“Draw a public company governance chart with shareholders, a board of directors, audit, compensation, and nominating committees, a CEO with CFO, COO, general counsel, and CTO, plus a chief audit executive with dotted lines to the CEO and Audit Committee.”
Read the decisions behind it.
Shareholders elect the board.
Standing committees report through the board.
The CEO leads the executive team.
The chief audit executive has an administrative dotted line to the CEO.
The Audit Committee has a dotted oversight line to internal audit.
Use this structure for a public-company governance overview. Committee charters, legal entities, and reporting relationships should be checked against the company’s actual governance documents.
Other examples in this family.
Common questions
Why does internal audit have a dotted line to the Audit Committee?
It signals functional oversight that supports audit independence from management.
What does the nominating committee do?
It commonly leads director nomination and governance processes.
Are board committees management departments?
No. They are board-level committees, not operating departments.