The Health Information Management Association of Australia’s business and policy is controlled by an elected, voluntary, eight member Board of Directors.

The Executive Officer and Association staff carries out the business and policy decisions determined by the Board of Directors. HIMAA Ltd has branches in all Australia states and the ACT. 

Members working voluntarily throughout Australia at national, state and local levels conduct meritorious work. The Board receives input from these representatives, and from nominated members who represent the Association in various forums. 

The concept of corporate governance has proved difficult to define precisely, because it covers a large number of concepts and economic relationships that affect many people. The OECD has the following working definition of corporate governance:

"Corporate governance is the system by which business corporations are directed and controlled. The corporate governance structure specifies the distribution of rights and responsibilities among different participants in the corporation, such as the board, managers, shareholders and other stakeholders, and spells out the rules and procedures for making decisions on corporate affairs. By doing this, it also provides the structure through which the company objectives are set, and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance."

This is summed up in a quote from Corporate Practices and Conduct, 3rd edition1:

“The essence of any system of good corporate governance is to allow the board and management the freedom to drive their organisation forward but to exercise that freedom within a framework of effective accountability”.

The basic principles of effective corporate governance are threefold: