Bursar’s Review Autumn 2019.

Feature Autumn 2019 www.theisba.org.uk 12 ■ supporting the chairman in ensuring that the board functions efficiently and effectively; ■ ensuring good information flows within the board and its committees and between senior management and non- executive directors, as well as facilitating induction and assisting with professional development as required; ■ maintaining good shareholder relations and keeping the board informed on shareholders' views; ■ developing and overseeing the systems that ensure that the company complies with all applicable codes, in addition to its legal and statutory requirements; ■ monitoring changes in relevant legislation and the regulatory environment then taking action accordingly; ■ overseeing the day-to-day administration of the company, e.g. maintaining statutory books including registers of members, directors and secretaries, organising board meetings and AGMs, preparing agendas and taking minutes; and ■ having responsibility for facilities, HR, insurance, investor relations, pension administration, premises and share registration (this only applies to some company secretaries). My notion is that by being the bursar as well as the company secretary, there is a specific value added to the contribution made to the governing body and its work. By combining both roles, the contribution is more than just preparing the papers and ensuring information is available. In my experience, when sitting in the meeting as ‘clerk’ I sometimes add value by responding as ‘bursar’ and helping to explain the background or detail of some dimension or other. A number of times when there have been questions about papers presented to the committee or board, the response from the bursar can be more detailed than it would be from a clerk who had prepared the meeting papers but not also written them. I recall a challenge to a point from a governor at a meeting and by offering a solution ‘as bursar’ the outcome was resolved in a timely manner. It may well have been resolved after the meeting but was more effective by being offered at the time of the discussion. The clerk’s responsibilities The Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools (AGBIS, 2019) describes the specific role of the clerk to the governors in its Guidelines for Governors document. It starts by describing the administrative support, ‘the clerk is responsible for publishing a programme of meetings and organising the agenda for meetings of the governing body and its committees’ as well as highlighting other dimensions such as, ‘the clerk