Despite Sarbanes-Oxley and the UK Combined Code, most corporate boards remain clueless about setting up the proper governance of their information technology systems.

A survey, reported here, has found that only 12 per cent of companies have adequate IT governance. Less than 7 per cent said board members fully understood the risks posed by IT systems and only 16.5 per cent said progress was being made to set up governance systems.

The alarming part about this study is that the boards are not doing their job. Governance is an important part of it and IT systems, which involve automated ways of doing the company's books, are usually one of the company's biggest assets. The survey suggests however that boards see a division between their role and that of IT.

Just as every company needs an audit company, boards need some sort of oversight committee for IT.