Governance and Capability-Building Programs

IBA recognises the importance of equipping its Indigenous partners with the skills they need to manage their investments and fulfil statutory and other requirements. As well as giving them board experience, it works to ensure their financial literacy and their governance capability by providing training targeted to their knowledge base. The financial literacy workshops and the Indigenous Governance Program, detailed below, cater for different levels of experience, with the knowledge gained from the workshops equipping participants with the necessary skills to move to the next level, the Indigenous Corporate Governance Training Program.

Financial literacy

IBA engaged Accounting Comes Alive Pty Ltd to present financial literacy (MoneyTalk) workshops to IBA’s Indigenous joint venture partners on a needs basis. The workshops clarify financial language and explain essential accounting principles. Subsequent workshops are structured so that participants can better understand and use their venture’s financial information. Feedback from participants in the first workshop, held in June 2009, indicates that it was highly successful. See ‘Good news: MoneyTalk workshops’, page 87.

Governance training

IBA has recognised the need for specialised corporate governance training for some of its client organisations. In 2008–09, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, in collaboration with IBA, developed the Indigenous Corporate Governance Training Program.

The program is targeted at Indigenous organisations that have been in operation for some time and are ready to take the next step into the mainstream corporate world. It focuses on ensuring that directors and board members of those organisations are equipped to meet the demands and responsibilities of their roles, thereby developing firmer financial foundations for their organisations.

There are six short modules and their delivery is quite flexible, depending on the needs of the participants. The modules are:

• The Role of the Director and the Board
• Introduction to Board Meetings and Governance
• Introduction to Financial Statements for Directors
• Assessing Company Performance for Directors
• Introduction to the Strategic Role of the Director
• Risk: Issues for Directors.

The program was successfully piloted with the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation in the Northern Territory, and is now being rolled out to other organisations across the country. With IBA’s assistance, Miriuwung Gajerrong Corporation (MG Corp) in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is currently putting its directors and board members through the program.