A After a number of serious failures of governance (that is, how they are managed at the highest level), companies in Britain, as well as elsewhere, should consider radical changes to their directors' roles. It is clear that the role of a board director today is not an easy one. Following the 2008 financial meltdown, which resulted in a deeper and more prolonged period of economic downturn than anyone expected, the search for explanations in the many post-mortems of the crisis has meant blame has been spread far and wide. Governments regulators,central banks and auditors have all been in the frame. The role of bank directors and management and their widely publicised failures have been extensively picked over and examined in reports. Inquiries and commentaries.
A 英国公司需要更加高效的董事会在经历了一系列严重的管理失误(也就是公司的最高层如何管理)后，英国以及世界其他地方的公司应该思考对其董事的角色进行根本的变革。很明显，当今的董事会成员不是一个容易的职位。2008年的金融危机造成了一段远超预期的深刻和持久的经济低迷期，人们在危机之后分析造成的原因，这意味着归咎的嫌疑范围很大。政府、监管机构、中央银行和审计部门都在其中。银行经理及其管理层的作为和他们公开的失职行为都在各种各样的报道、调查和评论中受到了广泛的挑剔。
28
BThe knock-on effect of this scrutiny has been to make the governance of companies in general an issue of intense public debate and has significantly increased the pressures on, and the responsibilities of, directors. At the simplest and most practical level, the time involved in fulfilling the demands of a board directorship has increased significantly, calling into question the effectiveness of the classic model of corporate governance by part-time.independent non-executive directors. Where once a board schedule may have consisted of between eight and ten meetings a year, in many companies the number of events requiring board input and decisions has dramatically risen. Furthermore,the amount of reading and preparation required for each meeting is increasing.Agendas can become overloaded and this can mean the time for constructive debate must necessarily be restricted in favour of getting through the business.
B 这场审视的连锁效应就是要使普遍的公司管理问题变成大众热烈讨论的议题，同时也极大地增加了管理者的压力和责任。从最简单最实用的层面上来说，用于履行董事职责的时间有了大幅增长，从而使人们质疑过去传统公司管理模式的有效性，即由兼职的、独立非执行董事来管理。过去董事会议程也许包括一年8一10次的会议，而在如今的许多公司里，需要董事会参与讨论和决策的事情数量大幅增多。并且，每次会议的阅读量和需要的准备工作也显著增加。日程有可能排得太满，这意味着用来讨论建设性意见的时间必须根据需要进行限制以完成正事。
29
C Often, board business is devolved to committees in order to cope with the workload,which may be more efficient but can mean that the board as a whole is less involved in fully addressing some of the most important issues. It is not uncommon for the audit committee meeting to last longer than the main board meeting itself. Process may take the place of discussion and be at the expense of real collaboration, so that boxes are ticked rather than issues tackled.
C 以前董事会的事务要交给委员会以处理大额的工作量，这么做也许确实更有效率，但是也意味着董事会作为一个整体，在充分解决一些最重要的事情上缺乏参与度。一场审计委员会议的时间比董事会会议的时间久并不稀奇。会议流程可能会代替讨论协商，而这就牺牲了真正的协调合作，结果就是只注重标注(流程)事项而不是真正解决问题。
30
DA radical solution, which may work for some very large companies whose businesses are extensive and complex, is the professional board. whose members would work up to three or four days a week , supported by their own dedicated staff and advisers. There are obvious risks to this and it would be important to establish clear guidelines for such a board to ensure that it did not step on the toes of management by becoming too engaged in the day-to-day running of the company. Problems of recruitment,remuneration and independence could also arise and this structure would not be appropriate for all companies. However, more professional and better-informed boards would have been particularly appropriate for banks Where the executives had access to information that part-time non-executive directors lacked, leaving the latter unable to comprehend or anticipate the 2008 crash.
D 有一个根本的方案也许对一些十分大型的、业务范围很广泛复杂的公司有效，那就是组建一个专业的董事会，其成员可以每周最多工作三四天，由其专属员工和顾问辅助支持。这么做存在明显的风险，所以关键是要建立清晰的指导原则，保证它不会因太过掺和到公司的日常运营事务之中去而冒犯到管理层。这个方法会引发招聘、薪酬和独立性等相关问题，而且未必适用于所有公司。但是，更加专业和消息更灵通的董事会对于银行机构来说将会是格外合适的，因为在这些机构里，执行者们能够获得信息， 这是兼职非执行董事们所欠缺的，后者正是因此无法理解和预见2008年的经济危机。
31
EOne of the main criticisms of boards and their directors is that they do not focus sufficiently on longer-term matters of strategy, sustainability and governance, but instead concentrate too much on short-term financial metrics. Regulatory requirements and the structure of the market encourage this behaviour. The tyranny of quarterly reporting can distort board decision-making, as directors have to 'make the numbers' every four months to meet the insatiable appetite of the market for More data. This serves to encourage the trading methodology of a certain kind of investor who moves in and out of a stock without engaging in constructive dialogue with the company about strategy or performance,and is simply seeking a short-term financial gain. This effect has been made worse by the changing profile of investors due to the globalisation of capital and the increasing use of automated trading systems. Corporate culture adapts and management teams are largely incentivised to meet financial goals.
E 对于董事会和其他经理们的批评之一是：他们没有足够关注企业的长期发展策略、可持续发展和管理，而是过度关注了短期的财务指标。监管要求和市场结构纵容了这种行为。季度报告至上扭曲了董事会的决策，因为董事们不得不每四个月“提出数据”以应对市场对于数据贪婪的胃口。这种做法助长了某类投资者的交易方法，他们进出股市，从不与公司对关于策略或业绩表现进行有任何建设性的对话，仅仅谋取短期的盈利'由于资本的全球化和自动贸易系统的使用增加，投资者也在发生着变化，从而使局面变得更为严重。企业文化要做出调整适应，管理团队也很大程度上被激励去达成这种财政目标。
32
FCompensation for chief executives has become a combat zone where pitched battles between investors,management and board members are fought, often behind closed doors but increasingly frequently in the full glare of press attention. Many would argue that this is in the interest of transparency and good governance as shareholders use their muscle in the area of pay to pressure boards to remove underperforming chief executives. Their powers to vote down executive Remuneration policies increased when binding votes came into force. The chair of the remuneration committee can be an exposed and lonely role, as Alison Carnwath, chair of Barclays Bank`s remuneration committee, found when she had to resign, having been roundly criticised for trying to defend the enormous bonus to be paid to the chief executive; the irony being that she was widely understood to have spoken out against it in the privacy of the committee.
F 首席执行官的薪酬变成了一个战区，投资者、管理层和董事会成员在这里争斗，以前一般是闭门进行的，但现在却越来越频繁地暴露在媒体的镜头之下。很多人认为这对公司透明性和企业管理有好处，因为股东们会动用他们在薪酬上的力量来迫使董事会换掉那些业绩不好的首席执行官。当有约束力的投票做法开始实行时，股东们投票反对执行官待遇的权力变得更大了。薪酬委员会主席的职位是易受批评而又孤独的，正如巴克莱银行的薪酬委员会主席Alison Camwath所发现的那样。她因为试图为需要付给首席执行官的巨额津贴作辩护而饱受指责，最终不得不离职。讽刺的是，大家都知道在委员会内部，她是持反对态度的。
33
GThe financial crisis stimulated a debate about the role and purpose of the company and a heightened awareness of corporate ethics. Trust in the corporation has been eroded and academics such as Michael Sandel, in his thoughtful and bestselling book What Money Can`t Buy, are questioning the morality of capitalism and the market economy. Boards of companies in all sectors will need to widen their perspective to encompass these issues and this may involve a realignment of corporate goals. We live in challenging times.
G 金融危机激起了人们对于公司角色和目的的广泛辩论和职业道德的更高关注。公司的公众信任度由此受到损害，还有一些学者，比如Michael Sandel在他的畅销书《钱买不到什么》里所说的那样，正在质疑资本主义和市场经济的道德标准。所有行业的公司董事会都要拓宽视野去思考这些问题，也许会涉及到调整企业的目标。我们生活在一个充满挑战的年代。