Currently the King Report on Corporate Governance in Southern Africa, together with relevant legislation, sets the standard and principles for corporate governance in South Africa. There is however no credible and generally accepted national standard available for measuring how various organisations are performing against an appropriate standard.

The loDSAhas developed the Governance Assessment Instrument ™ in the form of an automated web-based tool that serves as both a measure and an enabler of good corporate governance structures and practices. The GAI has been developed for every Industry sector.

The design of the instrument will be such that it can be employed towards different intents, including:

Assisting organisations to evaluate their own corporate governance; and

Providing a mechanism for consultants to evaluate corporate governance at their corporate clients, either as a self-standing assignment or to verify the results of a self-assessment already performed by the entity.

Features of the national governance assessment instrument:

Establish data on performance of sectors and industries for benchmarking purposes.

Capable of being independently verified for credible reporting.

Different modules for different business sectors to ensure that the whole business spectrum is reached.

Enabler of governance as it will contain guidelines for implementation.

Assesses & rates governance structures and practices

A unique feature of the instrument is that it will consist of different modules customised to cater for the needs of, not only listed companies, but also SMEs, non-profit organisations, medical aid schemes, retirement funds, government organisations and public entities. Developing the assessment instrument will therefore, in essence entail tailoring the King III Code for application by each of these sectors.

Due to the independent verification capability thereof and the fact that it will, over time, establish standards and a statistical bench­mark for different sectors and industries, the IoD foresees that the assessment instrument will evolve to become an enabler of trans­parent, credible and measurable reporting to stakeholders.

In due course the IoD also wishes to embark upon the training of individuals who will assist with cascading the implementation of the governance assessment instrument at SMEs and non-profit organisations. We are furthermore planning to eventually roll out this project in the whole of Southern Africa.

The IoDSA is currently in the process of finalising agreements with organisations that wish to have the ability to access the system and to do an audit on the 'self-assessment' by which the score achieved becomes an 'Assured score'.

Registration for Trial

Online Registration feature will be available soon!
Until then, please contact GAI@iodsa.co.za.

Disclaimer:

The assessment criteria of the IoDSA web-based tool, the governance assessment instrument (GAI) have been based on the practice recommendations of the King III report. These criteria are intended to assess quantitative aspects of corporate governance only and not qualitative governance. As such, the results are proposed to serve as an indication of the structures, systems and processes in place and are not intended to include an indication of the governance culture of an entity.

The responsibility for the input of data in order to attain a result through the use of this is that of the user and the entity in respect of which the user licence has been granted (licensee). The results based on the use of the GAI may be based on the subjective opinion of the licensee or the representative user(s) and may not be true reflection of the actual state of the governance structures, systems and processes at the entity. The IoDSA strongly recommends that independent verification and assurance on the results be obtained.

The IoDSA makes no warranty or representation as to the accuracy or completeness of either the assessment criteria or the results. Neither the IoDSA nor any of its affiliates nor the software developer shall be held responsible for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or other damage of any kind suffered or incurred, as a result of reliance on the results produced through the use of the GAI.