What is a Conflict of Interest?

A conflict of interest is a circumstance in which an individual or organization is unable to remain impartial, or able to exploit, a professional or official position for their own benefit. A conflict of interest can exist whether any impropriety was acted upon.

Best Practices for Avoiding a Conflict of Interest

A board of directors should maintain a policy to avoid conflicts of interest and take steps to mitigate any appearance of impropriety. A conflict of interest policy should require those with a conflict and those who believe they may have a conflict to disclose the conflict, and prohibit interested board members from involvement on any matter in which there remains a conflict. If a director has a conflict of interest then that director is often referred to as “Interested Director."

Managing Conflicts of Interest With a Board Portal

Board portals utilize a granular permission management system – a platform where each individual is assigned permissions to read and access materials. When a conflict of interest arises, a board administrator can simply remove access for those individuals (redact), omitting any materials or preventing their access to votes, approvals, and actions associated with any conflict.