Governance check

Find out how a vendor is governed with these questions:

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Corporate governance Get a clue

Find out how a vendor is governed with these questions:

• Does the company have a board-level governance committee? If so, how long ago was it established and when was the last time its charter was updated?
  
  
• Does the board evaluate and grade the CEO? If so, how often? Who does the evaluation (a person or a committee)? Is it tied to compensation?
  
  
• Who is on the board-level audit and compensation committees? What are their backgrounds?
  
  
• What firms provide auditing and legal services, and how long have they been associated with the company?
  
  
• How many independent directors are on the board, and who are they?
  
  
• How is the stock performing and why, according to independent financial experts you trust?
  
  
• Does the company expense stock options, and, if so, does it use the fair-value method? What effect on financials do stock options have, according to company reports?
  
  
• What do peers say about the vendor?

Read more about vendor news in Network World's Vendor News section.