Introduction
The Reporting and Assurance Standards Oversight Council is an independent, volunteer body that serves the public interest by overseeing and providing input into the activities of the Accounting Standards Board, Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, Canadian Sustainability Standards Board, Public Sector Accounting Board, and the development of independence standards in Canada.
Board and Oversight Council members are volunteers, except for Board Chairs who are paid. Members come from varied backgrounds in private and public sectors, such as financial statement preparers, users, auditors, academics, regulators, and sustainability professionals.
In line with our dedication to fostering diversity and inclusion, the Oversight Council actively supports the participation and representation of Indigenous Peoples and aims to engage in meaningful collaboration with Indigenous communities. We understand the importance of diverse perspectives in our decision-making processes and strive to create a welcoming environment that values and respects Indigenous knowledge, traditions, and contributions.
As part of its public interest oversight mandate, the Oversight Council monitors the use and effectiveness of volunteer resources that support the standard-setting boards' work. Additionally, the Oversight Council is responsible for appointing members to these groups. The Oversight Council’s Nominating Committee designs and executes a high-quality recruitment process to address board and Oversight Council vacancies. The Committee applies a consistent approach to all candidates to ensure maximum objectivity and consistency. All appointments and related due process activities require final approval from the Oversight Council.
To maintain accountability, transparency, and integrity throughout the recruitment process, the Oversight Council has developed a set of recruitment principles to guide its design and execution.
Recruitment Principles
The following principles are grouped under five major headings representing key stages of the recruitment process.
IDENTIFICATION OF RECRUITMENT NEEDS
Principle 1: Regular and timely recruitment needs identification
To ensure that the Oversight Council and the boards have the skills needed to accomplish their goals, they will each conduct a yearly review of individual and collective skills using a skills matrix. The skills review should identify the following:
- existing skills needing to be replaced due to planned or unplanned member departures;
- skills gaps;
- diversity; and
- new skills required to address evolving work agendas effectively.
Principle 2: Prompt initiation of the recruitment process
The Committee will monitor the composition of the boards and the Oversight Council to anticipate the timing of planned member turnover, as well as to ensure that annual recruitment activities are scheduled with sufficient lead time to identify and appoint suitable replacements without compromising quality or appointment deadlines. This principle requires establishing and maintaining a suitable mix of appointment terms to ensure an appropriate balance between the need for continuity and fresh thinking and maintaining a manageable volume of annual vacancies.
RECRUITMENT CALLS
Principle 3: Clear communication of position requirements
Calls for candidates will reflect up-to-date requirements for each vacancy and may be used for future performance evaluation purposes. Calls will clearly distinguish between minimum requirements and any additional desirable skills, experience, diversity, or other attributes in alignment with the latest skills gap review results. Calls will emphasize that candidates for these roles will serve in a personal capacity, do not represent a specific external interest, and are expected to act objectively and independently.
Principle 4: Protection of candidate information
The Oversight Council recruitment process for board and council candidates incorporates appropriate safeguards to maintain candidates’ confidentiality, as well as to protect their personal and private information from when it is collected to its final disposition.
Candidates will be informed of the Oversight Council’s privacy policy at the time of application and may consider granting it approval to keep their application on file for future opportunities that align with their experience and skills.
Principle 5: All searches must include a public call
Every position will be advertised publicly on the appropriate sites. In the case of Board Chair recruitment, an external search firm may be engaged to work with the Nominating Committee. Communication strategies developed in collaboration with the communications team will be customized for each position, which may involve identifying external communities or groups whose members could be potential candidates. These communities will be informed of the public call with sufficient time to allow interested community members to participate. If an external search firm is engaged for a Board Chair search, the firm, Committee, and communications team will collaborate on a communications strategy.
Principle 6: Use of alternative search modes to achieve maximum outreach
Targeted outreach by board or Oversight Council members will supplement the above strategies to achieve maximum outreach, especially when skills requirements are highly specialized and in short supply.
Principle 7: Maintenance of the Oversight Council independence
While Oversight Council members are not prohibited from reaching out to any potential candidate, they must recuse themselves from the related recruitment process if a relationship between the member and that individual or the individual’s organization creates a conflict of interest for the member.
Principle 8: Candidates will be kept informed
All candidates will receive a timely acknowledgement of their applications on the next steps and time frames to ensure that their expectations are set appropriately. The acknowledgement will also state that all candidates, regardless of origin, will be screened and evaluated using the same process.
CANDIDATE SCREENING
Principle 9: Impartial initial screening based on published job requirements
Board staff will conduct initial screening for board candidates, and Oversight Council staff will do the same for Council Candidates using the criteria disclosed in the public call. This process will be consistent for all candidates, whether sourced through a public call or other targeted efforts. If a search firm is engaged for a Board Chair search, it will lead the candidate screening process before presenting candidates to the Committee.
FULLY ACCOUNTABLE CANDIDATE EVALUATION AND FINAL DISPOSITION
Principle 10: Timely review of screening outcomes
The initial screening results will identify viable and non-viable candidates using the criteria identified in the public call and presented to the Committee for review and validation. All successful and unsuccessful candidates will be notified of the outcomes. Board staff will schedule viable board candidate interviews in a timely manner. The Oversight Council will do the same for council candidates.
Principle 11: Consistent process
A common interview approach will be used for all candidates to ensure maximum objectivity and consistency. At the same time, there should be sufficient scope to engage in more flexible discussions that help to build a more comprehensive picture of each candidate’s skills and attributes. Each Board Chair and Director will conduct the first interviews for their boards. The Committee Chair along with at least one other member of the Committee will conduct the first interviews for council candidates. Following the interview and subsequent review by the Committee, a touchpoint will be organized for a member of the Committee to meet with the board candidates. A touchpoint will be scheduled with the Council Chair and Vice Chair for council candidates.
Whenever possible, all candidate touchpoints will be conducted by the same member(s) of the Committee unless a conflict of interest exists. Where a Committee member or Oversight Council member has a conflict of interest with one or more candidates on the list, it is the prerogative of the Committee Chair to determine if the member may participate in any discussions concerning the candidate. The conflicted member may not participate in any discussions or final decisions concerning the candidates.
Candidate responses will be documented to facilitate assessment of each candidate’s suitability and respective ranking. In each instance, rationale for the conclusions will be documented.
Principle 12: Reference checks
Reference checks can take several forms, including documented discussions with referees, evaluations of reference or recommendation letters from referees or board or Oversight Council members, and staff’s independent research into relevant information available through public sources. While the most appropriate form may differ by nominee, the objective is the same: independent verification of the facts and circumstances obtained through the evaluation process and determination that no adverse information exists that would cause the Committee to revisit its decision.
The Committee Chair will ensure that each nominee has undergone reference checks before being presented to the Oversight Council.
Principle 13: Oversight Council’s final approval
The recruitment process’s results, final recommendations, and supporting rationales will be referred to the Oversight Council for final consideration and approval. Ideally, these recommendations would occur at an Oversight Council meeting to allow for a full discussion of the candidates. However, there may be situations where candidate recommendations are managed electronically.
The Committee will provide a summary of the candidates and processes followed along with their final conclusions, including rationale for each recommendation.
Principle 14: Reappointments
Board and Council members are eligible to be considered for reappointments after they serve their first three-year term. An evaluation for reappointment will be performed for each eligible member and shared with the Committee for consideration and recommendation to the Council.
PERFORMANCE MONITORING
Principle 14: Performance evaluations
Group and individual performance reviews conducted by the boards and the Oversight Council can provide useful insights into upcoming recruitment needs. For this reason, regular reviews are recommended with the results made available to the Committee within a time frame that supports the boards’ and Oversight Council’s recruitment cycles.