GLOBAL GOVERNANCE STANDARDS AUTHORITY
Establishing globally applicable governance standards, assessment criteria, and certification frameworks to support effective oversight, accountability, and responsible decision-making across boards, institutions, and AI-enabled systems.
Governance expectations for boards, institutions, and AI-enabled systems are expanding rapidly, while oversight structures remain fragmented across jurisdictions, sectors, and regulatory regimes. Organisations are increasingly expected to demonstrate accountability, transparency, and effective control - yet existing frameworks are often inconsistent, overlapping, or insufficiently aligned to provide reliable assurance.
As governance responsibilities extend beyond boards into organisational structures, operational decision-making, and AI-enabled systems, the absence of consistent standards increases risk exposure, weakens accountability, and limits comparability across institutions. This creates challenges for regulators, boards, and stakeholders seeking confidence in governance maturity and oversight effectiveness.
Globally applicable governance standards provide a structured response to this challenge — establishing clear expectations, common assessment criteria, and evidence-based assurance mechanisms that can be applied consistently across sectors and jurisdictions.
Establishes consistent governance structures required for effective oversight, including board responsibilities, reporting lines, escalation pathways, decision-making procedures, and accountability mechanisms.
Sets clear expectations for risk identification, internal controls, conflict-of-interest processes, audit readiness, and transparent accountability across organisational and AI-driven systems.
Establishes governance requirements for AI-enabled and data-driven systems, covering transparency, human oversight, data integrity, responsible use, and alignment with emerging global frameworks.
ABOUT THE IGSB
The International Governance Standards Board (IGSB) develops independent, principles-based governance standards designed to support board integrity, institutional accountability, and alignment with leading international expectations.
IGSB standards are written to be adopted voluntarily by boards, governing bodies, and institutional leaders seeking a coherent governance framework that can sit alongside existing legal, regulatory, and assurance requirements.
IGSB does not act as a regulator and does not replace statutory, supervisory, or regulatory authorities.
Its role is to establish independent, principles-based governance standards and assessment criteria that may be voluntarily adopted and referenced by boards, executives, regulators, and assurance providers alongside existing legal and regulatory frameworks.
IGSB’s standards and assessment frameworks are designed for independent assurance. Our validation network spans governance bodies, institutional oversight functions, and research-led contributors.
REFERENCED GLOBAL FRAMEWORKS
IGSB standards are structured to align with established international governance, accountability, and ethics frameworks. The G-Series is designed to be applied alongside existing codes, regulatory expectations, and assurance practices across jurisdictions.
A unified governance model defining how organisations design, implement, evidence, and assure responsible AI and organisational integrity.
STEP 1
Organisations define governance structures, leadership responsibilities, risk pathways, escalation procedures, and integrity controls aligned with international best-practice.
STEP 2
Operational policies, ethical safeguards, internal controls, and transparency mechanisms are implemented across AI-enabled and organisational systems.
STEP 3
Organisations collect evidence against G-Series requirements, assess governance maturity across key domains, and identify gaps in oversight, ethics, and accountability.
STEP 4
Independent validation or external assurance confirms that governance structures, processes, and safeguards meet required standards, strengthening public and stakeholder trust.
Certification under the G-Series is evidence-led. Organisations are expected to demonstrate governance arrangements through documented structures, decision records, and operational controls. Assertions, intent statements, or policy declarations without supporting evidence are not sufficient.
Evidence of formal governance structures, defined roles and responsibilities, decision-making authority, and documented accountability mechanisms across the organisation.
Documented governance policies, operational controls, risk management processes, and oversight mechanisms demonstrating how governance is applied in practice.
Records of material governance decisions, committee outputs, approvals, reviews, and operational actions evidencing governance functioning over time.
Evidence of ongoing governance review, internal challenge, performance monitoring, issue escalation, and continuous improvement activities.
Assessment decisions are based on the sufficiency, consistency, and relevance of evidence submitted. Partial evidence, informal assurances, or future commitments may be noted but do not satisfy certification requirements. Where evidence is incomplete or inconsistent, certification may be deferred or declined.
An IGSB pre-assessment provides an independent, evidence-led review of your current governance arrangements against the G-Series standards.
The assessment identifies governance maturity, evidence gaps, and alignment considerations prior to any formal certification or assurance decision.
THE G-SERIES GOVERNANCE STANDARDS
The G-Series defines a structured suite of institutional governance standards – beginning with G1 Board Governance, G2 Institutional Governance, and G3 Financial & AI Governance – designed to align with leading global frameworks and regulatory expectations.
Establishes core expectations for board composition, independence, oversight, and accountability within regulated and systemically important institutions.
Sets governance expectations for organisational integrity, leadership accountability, internal controls, and cross-functional oversight across institutions of varied scale and regulatory exposure.
Establishes governance, risk, and assurance expectations for financial integrity, AI-enabled systems, data governance, transparency, audit readiness, and compliance with emerging regulatory frameworks.