In this chapter I present concepts relating to accountability and various board task expectations. A typology of board tasks follows:

• board output control tasks;

• board internal control tasks;

• board advisory tasks;

• board decision control tasks; and

• board collaboration and mentoring tasks.

Various board tasks are also presented in this chapter. They are sorted under the headings:

• aunt theories;

• barbarian theories;

• clan theories; and

• value creation theories.

This chapter is concerned with board task expectations. In chapter 2 we saw how various actors may have different perspectives on corporate governance and board tasks. In this chapter various perspectives on board tasks are presented, and we will see how the various theories contribute to seeing board task expectations from different perspectives and with differing emphases.

I distinguish between board roles and board tasks. In the literature we find concepts such as board roles, board tasks, board functions, board activities and board involvement, and often they are all used as if they have the same meaning. In our use we see the board role concept as being related to board-level outcomes as well as to the board's working style. In this book I employ the term ‘board task’ as an expression related to board level-outcomes only. Board tasks can be specified in even more detail: they are about task involvement, not about the results of task involvement. I use the board task concept in relation to both expectations and actual performance.