Governance, Leadership and Ethics cheat sheet

Introduction to corporate governance in the public sector

• Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices and processes by which an organisation is directed and controlled; in the public sector it balances operational independence with public accountability.
• Its five principles are accountability, transparency, fairness, responsibility, and independence of the board from undue interference.
• A public body has no single owner: it answers at once to Parliament, the executive, the public, oversight bodies and the Constitution, so a fair and lawful process is what gives its decisions legitimacy.
• Good governance protects public resources, builds public trust and supports service delivery; weak governance is consistently linked to corruption, service delivery failures and reduced public trust.
• The main challenges are political interference, weak enforcement of standards, capacity gaps among board members, and the pull between commercial performance and public-service mandates.