Industries

Helping clients meet their business challenges begins with an in-depth understanding of the industries in which they work. That’s why KPMG LLP established its industry-driven structure. In fact, KPMG LLP was the first of the Big Four firms to organize itself along the same industry lines as clients.

How We Work

We bring together passionate problem-solvers, innovative technologies, and full-service capabilities to create opportunity with every insight.

Learn more

Careers & Culture

What is culture? Culture is how we do things around here. It is the combination of a predominant mindset, actions (both big and small) that we all commit to every day, and the underlying processes, programs and systems supporting how work gets done.

Learn more

Closing the gaps in portfolio company board effectiveness

Investors’ ability to assess strategy and operations at their portfolio companies is largely dependent upon the effectiveness of their portfolio company boards.

Venture capital investors, private equity firms, and family offices may have different expectations of their portfolio companies, but these investors’ ability to assess strategy and operations—and monitor the progress of their investment—is in large measure dependent upon the effectiveness of their portfolio company boards.

To better understand the challenges facing portfolio company boards today—what works, what doesn’t, and the opportunities for improvement—we surveyed more than 250 portfolio company directors, falling into three categories: portfolio company executives, investment professionals, and outside directors. We asked the directors to supplement their survey responses with write-in comments to expand on their views. 

Continue reading or download PDF

Dive into our thinking:

Closing the gaps in portfolio company board effectiveness

To better understand the challenges facing portfolio company boards today—what works, what doesn’t, and the opportunities for improvement—we surveyed more than 250 portfolio company directors, falling into three categories: portfolio company executives, investment professionals, and outside directors

Download PDF

Taken together, the survey responses and write-ins provide meaningful insights into the state of portfolio company board governance. Key takeaways include the following:

  • Agenda setting. Given the complexity of the business and risk environment, it comes as no surprise that a critical challenge for portfolio company boards is to devote adequate agenda time to strategy, risk, and long-term value creation. In fact, seventy-two percent of directors surveyed said that building forward-looking board agendas was one of the areas needing the most improvement—more than for any other category. “Alignment of controlling shareholders, company management, and independent directors on strategic direction and value creation is critical, and a continuing challenge.”
  • Composition. A related challenge is portfolio company board composition—particularly linking board composition with company strategy, both for the short term and the long term. Portfolio company executives give their boards significantly lower scores on “aligning board composition with the company’s future needs” than investment professionals and outside directors.
  • Communication. In many aspects of portfolio company governance, those surveyed said the board-management relationship is generally good, but nearly half of outside directors and company executives surveyed see a need for portfolio company shareholders to be more transparent in their communications with the board and management. Conversely, in their write-in comments, investment professionals emphasized the need for management to be more transparent and provide important information on a more timely basis—and between board meetings. “Management teams don’t like to deliver bad news and are afraid of the consequences.”
  • Independent leadership. Lastly, portfolio company directors surveyed have differing views regarding independent board leadership. Nearly three-quarters of outside directors and a majority of company executives see the role of lead independent director/non-executive chair as “highly important,” compared to only  forty-percent of investment professionals. “Passive representatives of shareholders are dangerous to the survival of a company. Most investors only have a couple of ‘A Team’ board members whom they carefully deploy.”

While there is no secret formula for board effectiveness and improvement—particularly for boards of privately held companies with different ownership structures and stages of maturity—we believe that these survey findings can be used to help boards assess their own performance and identify opportunities for advancement. 

Meet our team

Image of Board Leadership Center
Board Leadership Center
Partners, senior advisors and professionals, KPMG LLP

Receive the latest insights from the Board Leadership Center

Sign up to receive Board Leadership Weekly and Directors Quarterly

Thank you

Thank you for subscribing. We're excited to welcome you to our community. You can now look forward to the latest news, trends, upcoming events, and thought leadership delivered directly to your inbox.

Subscribe to insights from KPMG Board Leadership Center

Board Leadership Weekly - A weekly email providing the latest news, trends, upcoming events, and thought leadership focused on the board and C‑suite from KPMG, the BLC, and other leading sources. 

Directors Quarterly - A compilation of articles, insights, and upcoming events.

Select publications you want to receive and any topics of interest below. Select all that apply.

By submitting, you agree that KPMG LLP may process any personal information you provide pursuant to KPMG LLP's Privacy Statement.

An error occurred. Please contact customer support.

Thank you!

Thank you for contacting KPMG. We will respond to you as soon as possible.

Contact KPMG

Use this form to submit general inquiries to KPMG. We will respond to you as soon as possible.

By submitting, you agree that KPMG LLP may process any personal information you provide pursuant to KPMG LLP's Privacy Statement.

An error occurred. Please contact customer support.

Job seekers

Visit our careers section or search our jobs database.

Submit RFP

Use the RFP submission form to detail the services KPMG can help assist you with.

Office locations

International hotline

You can confidentially report concerns to the KPMG International hotline

Press contacts

Do you need to speak with our Press Office? Here's how to get in touch.

Headline