IT governance committee. In order to realise governance objectives, an IT governance committee can be implemented to manage and govern IT on a corporate level (Raghupathi, 2007). According to Xxx Xxxxxxxxxx (2004), there should be an IT strategy committee and an IT steering committee. The purpose of this committee is to assist the board in making decisions regarding IT management and the committee contains both board and non- board members. The execution of the IT strategy through the company is the responsibility of the executive management, supported by a steering committee. The steering committee needs to manage IT costs, priorities and investments. The IT governance committee often contains the CIO, Chief of Staff, Managing Director, a solicitor and financial director (Sherer, 2007). The general level of IT management is improved by introducing IT steering committees (Xxxxxx, Xxxxxxxxxxxxx, & Xxxxxx, 2000). Xxxxxx et al. (2000) point out the responsibilities of the IT steering committees. They need to gather regularly to review IT management, search and approve new IT projects, evaluate performance, determine technology procedures, define recourses, and endorse large opportunities. To set up an IT governance committee, the firm needs to select suitable members as well as a chairman and record the relationship with the audit committee. The members should be independent directors and at least one member should be an IT expert. The expert needs to focus on opportunities to solve IT difficulties, understand the potential impacts of them on the business and communicate them with the board and management. Furthermore, the expert must contain sufficient knowledge about the overall firm and the IT infrastructures. The relationship between the IT governance committee and the audit committee should be very tight because certain IT conditions can have an impact on economic and regulatory subjects such as Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. To support this relationship, one member of the audit committee should also serve on the IT governance committee (Xxxxx & XxXxxxxx, 2005). Xxxxxxx, Xxx-Xxx & Xxxxxx (2010) suggest that IT steering committees can only be effective if they contain the same level of management in the business as well as in the IT organisation. Unfortunately, successful steering committees are rare; few firms know which exact roles and responsibilities to appoint to these committees (Xxxxxx et al., 2000).
