Voices of Change 4: Prashant Dhume, Former Sr MD, Accenture & Risk Management Expert
Prashant Dhume is a Coach, Advisor, Writer, and LinkedIn Top Voice for Risk Management. He is also a Certified Independent Director from IICA, Ex-Accenture Senior Managing Director, Technology Risk Management and Quality Lead, Global Director of Delivery
Our team spoke to him recently on corporate governance and independent directorship. Here are the excerpts from the interview:-
1) You have been a board member / independent director. How can independent directors improve corporate governance practices? Please share an example if possible
Prashant Dhume: I am a certified Independent Director, and have not been a Board member or a practicing Independent Director as yet. On the back of my role at Accenture, I have been exposed to Risk Management, Quality, Internal Audit, and CISO functions closely, which have provided key inputs to multiple board meetings.
Independent Directors (ID) have a crucial role to play in enhancing corporate governance practices. They have the platform to bring in an independent, impartial expertise to the Board.
Each ID can bring in their expertise, and experience from within the same industry or across industries, regional plus global reach. They can improve governance in multiple ways, including a few outlined below:
1. Enhance oversight by assessing, preventing potential conflicts of interest, and ensuring no single individual has too much power.
2. Strengthen accountability (of the Board) by holding the Executive management accountable to ethical standards, and regulatory requirements.
3. Assess risk management practices, eliciting updates on the enterprise risk landscape including exposure to third-party, cybersecurity, and regulatory risks.
4. Track financial integrity working with the Audit Committee to ensure accurate financial reporting, and safeguarding against non-compliance.
5. Ensure transparency to meet ESG goals, commitments including progress towards net-zero, support for the communities at large, and SDGs. Check on updates related to whistleblower policies, any unethical or inappropriate incidents reported, and actions taken.
6. Emphasise long-term value creation, and stakeholder value creation over short-term gains.
While the Corporate governance practices, systems are well documented, the challenge is the practices and systems may not be adhered to in its entirety. Hence, an Independent Director’s role is critical to work with the Board to establish an effective system of checks, balances, controls, ensure periodic independent audits are conducted, and provide appropriate oversight covering the key Board committees.
Examples: I have read through as an investor how an Independent Director like Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw brought in her expertise to guide on leadership transitions, compliance, and diversity.
2) You are a respected figure in the IT industry. Please share your contributions as a senior leader/board member in the domains of cyber security and IT strategy.
Prashant Dhume: I am an industry professional with over 30 years of experience in global technology enterprises. I have held senior positions at Accenture for over 20 years, including leading Technology Risk Management and Quality function, reporting to Accenture CRO and Technology COO. Prior to this stint, I have led Technology Delivery at Accenture Technology Centres in India, for the Resources Industry Group, which encompassed sectors like Energy, Oil and Gas, Utilities Power, Chemicals, Metals, Mining and Natural Resources.
Technology business contributed to 65% of total Accenture’s revenue, and as Technology Risk Management Lead and Global Director of Delivery. It was an intense, engaging, and interesting experience. I have observed closely, how for corporates, this VUCA world is highly interconnected, complex, digitised with business impacts caused by triggers from the geo-political crisis, trade wars, and climate change.
The enterprise risk landscape is evolving rapidly with risks across the below categories:
(a) Strategic (b) Operational © Financial (d) Compliance and Regulatory (e) Supply chain (f) Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) (g) Reputation (h) Health and Safety and (i) Cybersecurity and Information Security.
Cybersecurity attacks from threat actors are on the rise across industries, and can potentially stall an organisations systems, operations, and expose sensitive, confidential data. All of these can impact an organisation’s reputation, it’s credibility and financial health. Recovering from a cybersecurity attack can be extremely strenuous, and time-consuming, with exposure to potential lawsuits, and financial damage claims from multiple stakeholders. Hence, cybersecurity risk remains on top of an organisation’s Executive team and Board’s radar.
IT Strategy needs to be aligned with the business strategy, with Technology as an enabler to deliver business goals. We have witnessed recently how a third-party endpoint service provider downtime impacted many organisations across the world. This is resulting in third-party supplier risk, including IT systems resilience, uptime getting its prominence on organisation’s Risk Management committee radar.
3) How can overall board governance and board leadership be enhanced in the Indian corporate world?
Prashant Dhume: While the Corporate governance practices, systems are well documented, the challenge is the practices and systems may not be adhered to in its entirety. Post the Satyam corporate governance scandal, the Indian corporate world has been witness to a sea of changes to strengthen the corporate governance structure. This covered elevating the Independent Director role, and establishing guidelines for the Board of Directors to have a minimal number of Independent Directors on Board, including on select committees.
While we have witnessed progress on multiple fronts, there is a need for a multi-pronged approach to enhance the overall board governance, and leadership in the Indian Corporate world.
This would need to include below segments:
1. Strengthen Board Independence: Increase the representation of independent directors with diverse skills and backgrounds.
2. Improve Board diversity and inclusion: Drive for higher gender diversity. Include Directors from varied industries, cultural backgrounds, and exposure to different markets.
3. Strengthen board-level risk committees: Conduct periodic review of organisation’s risk management framework, view, and updates on key risks such as cyber, regulatory, and third-party risks.
4. Increase transparency on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, disclosures, alignment to business, and SDG goals.
5. Continue to enhance Independent Director’s training covering new regulations, governance practices, and technology trends through the aegis of IICA, and the Institute of Directors.
6. Explore instituting an Independent Director’s internship program, to provide opportunities for upcoming Independent Directors to experience role-plays of Board meetings in varied scenarios. This is akin to articleship for CAs or internships for other curriculums.
7. Encourage usage of proven practices, technology, and tools to enable real-time reporting on governance practices, enterprise risks, key financial metrics, and trends. This will enable transparent communication between the Board and the Executive stakeholders, with everyone viewing a single version of the truth.
Enhancing board governance in the Indian corporate world requires a combination of improved oversight, diversity, accountability, and transparency. Indian corporations can improve their governance practices, by fostering a culture of ethics, and transparency, investing in board development, and diversity, and ensuring alignment with long-term business goals.
Related Posts
Your Positive Change is Your Brand
Independent Directors as Agents of Change
— — — — — — — -
Detailed Profile
Prashant Dhume is an industry professional with over 30 years of experience in global technology enterprises, having held senior positions at Accenture for over 20 years, including leading Technology Risk Management and reporting to the CRO and Technology COO. Prior to Accenture, he gained diverse experience with organizations like Silverline Technologies and TCS, across India, the USA, and Switzerland.
As a Certified Independent Director, an avid writer, and a faculty contributor in multidisciplinary areas, he transitioned from full-time corporate roles in April 2024 to focus on flexible engagements in Cyber, Education, Learning, and Sustainability. He is passionate about collaborating with executive teams and boards to navigate digital transformation, foster sustainable growth, maintain a competitive edge, and contribute meaningfully to society.
