Law for CEOs

Corporate governance essentials for a growing company

Earlier than most founders expect - usually at the first external investor, the first serious dispute, or the first regulator question.

EducationalExecutive briefingLast reviewed 2026-08-14No named reviewer yet

At what point does informal decision-making become a liability?6 min read

Key points

Directors take on duties personally. Those duties do not scale with the size of the company.
A decision that was not recorded is, for evidential purposes, difficult to distinguish from one that was never made.
Conflicts are not a problem when declared and recorded. They become one when they surface later.
Statutory registers and filings are the cheapest thing to maintain continuously and the most expensive to reconstruct.
The company's money and assets must be separated from the owners' absolutely, and visibly.

Exposure rarely sits where the accountability does. This is where it tends to surface first.

Take these into the meeting. The value is usually in how long the answers take.