Departing bosses 'can assist with executive appointment'

Bosses who hold roles in corporate governance could have a role to play in terms of executive appointment within their company once they decide to depart from the business.

That is according to a piece in The Economist, which suggests managers who are moving on to other roles may be tasked with finding somebody to take up their present position prior to leaving the company.

Nevertheless, if their successor fails to prove themselves in the role, the blame for this is likely to lie on independent directors.

The report refers to a number of recent high-profile cases whereby companies have taken the decision to fire individuals who have taken on governance roles in the firm yet failed to prove their worth.

It states: "This is a consequence of a series of corporate governance reforms during the past 20 years intended to empower non-executive directors in their oversight of executives."

This follows a new report from Bloomberg that highlighted Equilar figures that showed directors in the US are becoming older on average.