Self-test
Test your board debt
Twelve questions, five minutes. Nothing to look up and no right answers, just an honest picture of how your board really works.
Board debt is the scattered documents, unrecorded decisions and missing procedures that build up when a board works without an agreed structure, or around one. It usually builds up in email and shared folders, sometimes alongside a tool too clunky to use properly. You rarely see it day to day. You pay it back with interest the day it falls due, in due diligence, at an audit, in a dispute or when a new chair takes over.
Some board debt is reasonable. A company with three founders shouldn’t run on the procedures of a listed company. The question the test asks is whether your debt is chosen, or whether it just happened.
The test is anonymous. The answers are stored anonymously and only ever reported in aggregate. You don’t need an email address or a login to see your result.
Your result
0 of 24 debt points
Low board debt
Your house is in order. The debt you have is probably chosen, and so manageable. Keep it visible so it stays an active choice.
Moderate board debt
You feel the debt as everyday friction, hunting for documents, chasing people and letting decisions slip. The interest is still low, but it’s adding up.
High board debt
The debt is already affecting the board’s work, and it gets expensive the day it falls due, at a review, a sale or a change of chair.
Extensive board debt
As things stand, the board’s paperwork wouldn’t hold up if its decisions were questioned. This is less about tools than about ways of working. Start with the minutes and the rest will follow.
Where the debt sits
0 to 6 debt points per area. Lower is better.
Some board debt is reasonable. A young company should spend its time on the business, not on processes it doesn’t need yet. The difference that matters is whether the debt is chosen or unchosen. Chosen debt is debt you decided to take on, and you can pay it off when you need to. Unchosen debt is the kind you only find once the interest is already due.
See how you compare when the report comes out
We compile the answers into an annual report on how boards are doing. Leave your email address and we’ll tell you when it’s out, and you can see how your level compares. Only your level and language are stored with the address, never your individual answers.
Hippoly is built to keep board debt down. Meeting notices, minutes, decisions and documents in one place, from draft to signature.
Share the test
Know someone who should take the test? Pass the link on.
Questions and answers about the test
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How are the debt points counted?
The test has twelve questions in four areas: documentation, decisions, continuity, and risk and compliance. Every answer scores 0, 1 or 2 debt points, 24 at most. Lower is better, as with real debt. “Don’t know” always scores 2 points, because not knowing is part of the debt. Your total puts you on one of four levels. Low is 0 to 5 points, moderate 6 to 12, high 13 to 18 and extensive 19 to 24.
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Is the test anonymous?
Yes. The answers are stored anonymously and only ever reported in aggregate. You don’t need an email address or a login to see your result.
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Do I have to give my email address?
No. You see your level and repayment plan straight away, no email needed. The address is optional, for anyone who wants to hear when our annual report on how boards are doing is published. In that case only your level and language are stored with the address, never your individual answers.
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Can we compare ourselves with other boards?
Not inside the test yet, but it’s coming. We compile the answers into an annual report on how boards are doing. Leave your email address at the end of the test and we’ll tell you when it’s out, and you can see how your level compares.