A new Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) briefing from the Deloitte Global Center for Corporate Governance, Directors Alert: 11 issues for 2011, Ever-increasing demands (PDF) highlights the fact that recent regulatory changes have once again raised the bar on the boards responsibilities surrounding organizational strategy, and oversight and management of risk. Since board activity is being scrutinized more closely now performance expectations have heightened.

Highlights include regulatory change in the sense that organizations that go over the compliance requirements to determine how regulatory changes can create competitive advantage will separate themselves from the competition. As well, adopting an enhanced role in strategy by board members will result in a reorganization of meetings to effectively focus both on strategy and the organizations performance against strategy.

Finally, boards need to adpot central role in discussions with management to understand the major risks for the organization. By asking questions like What might cause the business or a strategic objective to fail? they may not only better prepare the organization to cut future losses but can also generate new valuable ideas.

Dan Konigsburg, Leader, Deloitte Global Center for Corporate Governance, DTTL understands the demand son boards is increasing.

While there is no single right way to address the issues that boards face, this report was developed with the goal of promoting a discussion around these key issues and to assist boards with tackling the challenges and seizing the opportunities ahead, he said.

Source:http://www.big4.com/news/deloitte-priority-issues-for-2011-presented-for-boards-2554