Anyone setting up a small company for the first time, or who is already a director of a family business, may be interested in a new handbook on corporate governance - the proper running of company boards and directorships.

Produced by independent strategy consultant, Prospectus, the handbook argues the case for the establishment of a formal board structure in even the smallest of family companies.

The information is practical and comprehensive and spells out exactly how to set up a board, who should be on it, board procedures, the role of the board and various officers, including their key legal obligations, the level of reward for executive and non-executive officers, etc. It also includes some relevant case studies. The results of a Prospectus survey showed that, in hindsight, the respondents would have set up formal board structures sooner, giving them decision-making powers earlier, spent more time on strategy at board level and less on operations and would have rewarded executive directors with company equity at an earlier stage.

Copies of this very useful, 62-page handbook, Corporate Governance - Leadership not Management, Practical Guidelines for Ambitious Private Companies - is available from Prospectus, Parkview House, Beech Hill, Clonskeagh, Dublin 4, Tel: 01 260 3122, Fax: 01 2603130, E-mail: strategy@prospectus.ie