| Course | MGMT 8625M Leadership Through Changing Financial Organizational Structures |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 9 |
| Paper type | Governance memo |
| Length | About 590 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Memo, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | PhD in Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGMT 8625M Week 9
Memorandum
To: Board of Directors, Bexley Mills, Inc.
From: Corporate Secretary and General Counsel
Date: March 15, 2027
Re: Reserved matters, delegation of authority and transition-period controls for adoption at the first board meeting
What the Board Keeps
The board reserves eleven matters to itself: the annual operating and capital budgets; any new borrowing or guarantee; any amendment of the credit agreement; acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures above $10 million; capital projects above $15 million; dividends and share repurchases; appointment and removal of the chief executive and chief financial officer; executive compensation, on the compensation committee's recommendation; any amendment of the transition services agreement with Bexley Packaging; settlement of litigation above $5 million; and changes to this delegation schedule.
Limits by Officer and Type
Below the reserved matters, authority is delegated as follows. The chief executive may approve operating contracts up to $5 million and capital projects up to $15 million within the approved budget. The chief financial officer may approve operating contracts up to $2 million, capital projects up to $3 million and treasury transactions within board-approved policy. Each mill manager may approve operating contracts up to $500,000 and capital projects up to $750,000 within the mill's budget. Any commitment above half an officer's limit requires a second signature from another officer, and no officer may approve a commitment they proposed.
The Former Parent as Counterparty
For eighteen months after the distribution, Bexley Packaging will run the mills' information systems, payroll processing and part of purchasing under the transition services agreement, at a monthly fee of about $1.4 million. Every officer of Bexley Mills previously worked for Bexley Packaging, so the people approving payments to the former parent would be approving payments to former colleagues and, in some cases, to arrangements they designed. The memo therefore requires that any payment under the agreement above the scheduled monthly fee, and any service extension, be approved by an officer who never worked for Bexley Packaging, a role that will initially fall to the audit committee chair, who joins from outside, until the company hires a controller from outside.
Tested Against Decision Control
Fama and Jensen (1983) observed that organizations tend to keep apart the people who start and carry out decisions, which they called decision management, and those who approve and oversee them, which they called decision control, above all where the people who make decisions do not bear their full consequences. Jensen and Meckling (1976) had earlier described the agency costs that arise when those who run a firm do not bear the full wealth effects of their choices. Each rule above was tested against that separation. The reserved matters keep ratification of the largest decisions with the board. The second-signature rule and the bar on approving one's own proposal keep management and control apart within the officer ranks. The transition rule addresses the place where separation is weakest: payments to a counterparty with whom every officer has ties. Adams et al. (2010) noted that boards' monitoring depends on their independence and information, which the audit committee's role in the transition rule is meant to supply.
What the Rules Cannot Settle
The rules cannot settle disputes over the quality of transition services, which depend on service levels written into the agreement and on the working relationship between the two companies. They cannot prevent officers from steering proposals to fit within their limits, such as splitting a capital project. The audit committee should review commitments just below each threshold every quarter to detect that pattern.
References
Adams, R. B., Hermalin, B. E., & Weisbach, M. S. (2010). The role of boards of directors in corporate governance: A conceptual framework and survey. Journal of Economic Literature, 48(1), 58-107. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.48.1.58
Fama, E. F., & Jensen, M. C. (1983). Separation of ownership and control. Journal of Law and Economics, 26(2), 301-325. https://doi.org/10.1086/467037
Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), 305-360. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(76)90026-X
The Walden MGMT 8625M Week 9 instructions
Week 9 asks you to draft governance rules for an organization whose structure has just changed and to test them. Address a memo to its board. List the matters the board reserves for itself. Set out a delegation schedule with signing limits by officer and type of commitment, including any requirement for a second signature. Write special rules for any transition period, especially where the organization depends on a former parent or partner. Test each rule against research on separating the initiation of decisions from their ratification and monitoring. Close by naming what the rules cannot settle. About four pages, written as a working document a board could adopt, is typical.
How the MGMT 8625M Week 9 example is put together
The sample's first section lists eleven reserved matters. The delegation section sets limits for the chief executive, chief financial officer and mill managers, requires a second signature above half an officer's limit and bars approving one's own proposal. The transition section explains that every officer previously worked for the former parent and assigns approval of extra payments to the audit committee chair until an outside controller is hired. The testing section explains decision management and decision control, applies them to each rule and cites research on agency costs and board monitoring. The closing section names service quality disputes and threshold splitting as limits, with a quarterly review proposed.
Where the marks sit in the MGMT 8625M Week 9 rubric
The test against decision control carries the most weight. Memos that list signing limits without explaining how they separate proposing from approving score as policy templates. Graders look for reserved matters suited to a new company, limits that vary by officer and type, a transition rule that addresses the specific conflict of a former parent as counterparty and an accurate application of the separation literature. Naming what the rules cannot prevent shows realism. The memo should be usable as written. Memo format, precise amounts and correct citations make up the remaining credit for Week 9. Rules without amounts or named officers cannot be applied. Ignoring conflicts during the transition period is the most common gap.
MGMT 8625M Week 9 help from the desk
Governance memos often copy a generic delegation table. Start from the company's situation: what is new, who depends on whom and where officers might face conflicts. Reserve to the board the decisions that could change the company's risk profile. Set limits so that larger commitments always need someone other than the proposer. Write a specific rule for the transition period. Then test each rule by asking who proposes and who ratifies. Name the gaps rules cannot close. A tutor can help you calibrate limits, and the mill company memo above tests every rule. Ask who could approve a payment to their former employer, and close that door. Keep the memo to four pages so directors read it.
Get a MGMT 8625M Week 9 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 9 memo instructions and the rubric, together with the structure your earlier weeks proposed, since the rules are written for it; the finished governance memo arrives within 24 to 48 hours, at no charge the first time. Where the board in your case already has committees, list them, and reserved matters are assigned accordingly.
More MGMT 8625M papers and PhD in Management samples
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MGMT 8625M Week 9 questions, answered
Where can I find a free MGMT 8625M Week 9 sample paper?
The spun-off mill company governance memo above is the Week 9 sample.
What does the board reserve in the MGMT 8625M Week 9 memo?
Eleven matters, including budgets, borrowing, large acquisitions, dividends, officer appointments and changes to the transition agreement.
Why is there a special rule for the transition period?
Every officer once worked for the former parent, which remains a major counterparty under the transition services agreement.
What did Fama and Jensen argue?
That organizations separate decision management, initiating and implementing, from decision control, ratifying and monitoring.
What can the rules not prevent?
Disputes over transition service quality and officers splitting commitments to stay under their limits.