Board Leadership Centre

The KPMG Board Leadership Centre (BLC) offers support and guidance to non-executive directors, whether managing a portfolio non-executive career or embarking on a first appointment. The BLC offers you a place within a community of board-level peers with access to topical and relevant seminars, resources and thought leadership, as well as engaging networking opportunities. We aim to equip you with the tools you need to be highly effective in your role, enabling you to focus on the issues that really matter to you and your business.

Our publications are meant for boards, audit committees and other bodies beyond the executive room, and they present key issues that boardrooms are facing and explores the conversations that board members should be having. Our subject matter experts provide concise, practical, and timely insights and analysis of the key emerging issues reshaping and redefining the boardroom agenda. We provide guidance and tools to improve board effectiveness and unleash the value-creation potential from good corporate governance.

The KPMG Board Leadership Center (BLC) champions outstanding corporate governance to drive long-term value and enhance stakeholder confidence. Through an array of insights, perspectives, and programs, the BLC promotes continuous education and improvement of public and private company governance. BLC engages with directors and business leaders on the critical issues driving board agendas—from strategy, risk, talent, and sustainability to data governance, artificial intelligence, audit quality, proxy trends, and more.

The work of the CFO and the finance function has continued to expand beyond financial reporting. CFOs often have responsibility for a range of nonfinancial issues, including cybersecurity, managing digital transformation and AI, interacting with the regulator, as well as managing strategic risks—all of which may require new skill sets on the finance team. As their respective roles continue to evolve in response to the changing environment, the relationship between the CFO, the audit chair, and the audit committee must follow suit.

With the rapid expansion of risks in cybersecurity, generative AI, climate, and other areas, many boards are reassessing how best to structure board and committee oversight and focus on director expertise and education — particularly relating to new and emerging risks.

Drawing on insights from our conversations with directors and business leaders, in this document we summarize our observations and recommendations for boards in the coming year by highlighting eight issues to keep in mind as boards consider and carry out their 2025 agendas.

Sharing valuable insights from our survey of lead audit partners in the region, work and interactions with audit committees and business leaders, we highlight nine issues to keep in mind as audit committees consider and carry out their 2025 agendas.

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) released the revised Global Internal Audit Standards on 9 January 2024, after a four-year period of consultation. These standards will be effective starting January 2025 and mark a major advancement in internal audit practices aiming to bring clarity to the role of the function and reflect the ever-evolving landscape internal audit operates in. In this document, we delve into the new standards and the implications for audit committees in particular.

Companies face growing demands to embrace and implement new technologies in order to remain competitive within the market. In Saudi Arabia, this trend is particularly expedited by Vision 2030 initiatives which aim to diversify the economy through digital transformation. In this publication, we look at the role that board members can play in their organizations.

In the evolving corporate governance landscape, the role and responsibilities of a chairperson continue to transform as well. The Capital Market Authority of Saudi Arabia has issued a Board Members Guide which sets out the responsibilities and duties of the chairman of the board. In this document, we present the key stipulations of this guide.

The new Companies Law, issued in January 2023, became the primary document for corporate governance at joint stock companies. In this document, we present some of the key clauses of the Companies Law for board members to be aware of, including those related to process of establishing, appointing and terminating board members, the entrusted and specific duties of care as part of the board members' responsibilities, the financial oversight and disclosure requirements, delegating specific tasks as part of the assignment of power, and how to avoid conflict of interest for board members. 

Heading into 2024, companies face unusual disruption and uncertainty – wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, trade and geopolitical tensions, economic volatility, persistent inflation and higher interest rates, technology and business model disruption, elevated cybersecurity risk, climate risk, and more. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) – most notably in generative AI – and continued increase in regulations will add to the challenge. This document is a summary of our observations and recommendations for boards in the coming year.

The business and risk environment has changed dramatically over the past year, with greater geopolitical instability, surging inflation, high interest rates, and unprecedented levels of disruption and uncertainty. Audit committees can expect their company’s financial reporting, compliance, risk, and internal control environment to be put to the test by an array of challenges which will eventually require developing related internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. In this document, we highlight issues for audit committees to consider for their 2024 agendas.