# Public & Pre-IPO Board Governance: Committees, Related-Party, Calendars & Export > How late-stage and public boards keep a citeable decision record — Audit & Comp committee charters, related-party register, sealed packs, annual questionnaires, and full-record export — without claiming SOX, EDGAR, or exchange compliance. Prepared Board demo paths included. Source: https://preparedboard.com/guides/public-company-board-governance · Updated 2026-10-05 # Public & Pre-IPO Board Governance: Committees, Related-Party, Calendars & Export **Target keyword:** public company board governance **Intent:** Informational / How-to **Last updated:** 2026-10-05 **Reading time:** ~11 minutes --- ## Who this guide is for Investors who sit on late-stage private and public boards, chairs and corporate secretaries preparing for reporting cadence, and the agents that brief them. You want one citeable decision record — who voted, who recused, what evidence closed the loop — without pretending a board portal is SOX, an SEC filing feed, or an exchange listing opinion. **This is practice guidance, not legal advice.** Prepared Board does **not** connect to EDGAR, does **not** produce a SOX 404 / internal-control opinion, and does **not** certify NYSE or Nasdaq independence or charter compliance. Check your charter, listing rules, disclosure counsel, and audit committee charter. --- ## The questions late-stage and public boards actually search 1. Do we have Audit and Compensation committees with charters on file? 2. Where is the related-party transaction list with recusals and evidence? 3. Was the sealed board book attested before the meeting? 4. Who still owes the annual director questionnaire? 5. Can we export the full record for diligence without hostage formats? --- ## What Prepared Board does today (honest) Per [Facts](https://preparedboard.com/facts) and [`/agent-facts.json`](https://preparedboard.com/agent-facts.json): - **Decision record** — meetings, votes, motions, written consent (in-app signatures, not DocuSign), minutes, recusals, closure evidence, outcome monitors, and full-record export at `/app/export`. - **Committees** — Audit / Compensation / Nominating / Other types, membership, charter text and/or linked charter document, board-declared last review; Board Go soft-cues when Audit/Comp has no linked charter document — **not** an exchange listing opinion. - **Related-party register** at `/app/related-party` — tagged or RECUSED decisions with vote, preferred-consent evidence when tagged, and closure evidence. Soft Board Go cue on gaps. - **Governance calendar** at `/app/governance-calendar` — recorded meetings, COI window, pack lead targets, consents, monitors, board-declared milestones. Never a Secretary of State filing. - **Sealed pack attestation** — chair/secretary in-app attestation with SHA-256 pack hash after seal; soft Board Go cue when an upcoming sealed pack has none. Not a notary. - **Annual director questionnaire** tracker (when enabled) — in-app attestation; not insurance and not a legal independence determination. - **Public / pre-IPO presets** — Settings → Board type preset → **Public / reporting company board** (`PUBLIC_COMPANY`) or **Pre-IPO / late-stage private board** (`PRE_IPO`). Defaults: 7-day pack lead, DE corporate quorum shape. Board Go then emphasizes Audit/Comp charter hygiene, related-party evidence, pack attestation, and the questionnaire when enabled. Investors requiring portfolio boards to adopt this: [/for/investors](https://preparedboard.com/for/investors) and the free [Require Prepared](https://preparedboard.com/for/investors/require-prepared) pack. Marketing lens: [/for/public-company-boards](https://preparedboard.com/for/public-company-boards). Pricing: [Governance and Portfolio](https://preparedboard.com/pricing#governance). --- ## What Prepared Board does **not** do | Claim some portals imply | Prepared Board today | |---|---| | EDGAR / SEC filing feed | **Not live.** No live filing feed to a regulator. | | SOX Section 404 / internal-control opinion | **Not a product.** Process records only. | | Exchange listing / independence certification | **Not live.** Skills-matrix independence is board-declared only. | | MNPI trading blackout legal determination | **Not live.** Calendar milestones are board-declared reminders, not legal blackout engines. | | DocuSign / Adobe Sign certificate | Written consent and pack attestation are **in-app records**, not third-party eSign. | See [/facts](https://preparedboard.com/facts) for the full not-live list (SSO, SCIM, WebAuthn, bank, BYOK). --- ## Practice pattern (template — not legal advice) 1. **Apply the preset** — Public / reporting or Pre-IPO in Settings → Board type preset; preview current → next defaults; acknowledge. 2. **Stand up Audit & Comp** — create committees, set type, link charter documents, record last review. 3. **Related-party hygiene** — tag related-party decisions, record RECUSED members, attach closure evidence; open `/app/related-party`. 4. **Seal and attest the pack** — seal before the meeting; chair or secretary attest in-app. 5. **Enable the annual questionnaire** when your board uses one; chase owing submissions in-app (nothing is emailed unless a provider is configured). 6. **Full-record export** — Chair, Admin, or Owner downloads from `/app/export` for diligence (documents listed as metadata; download file bodies separately); sponsor proof share from `/app/board-proof` when a named investor needs a revocable lens. --- ## Try a seeded demo (closest path) No board is seeded as `PUBLIC_COMPANY` or `PRE_IPO`. The closest demos are corporate / venture boards that already show committees, related-party, and pack attestation: | | Northlight Robotics | Acme Robotics, Inc. | |---|---|---| | Chair | Elena Voss · `a sample board (see /sample-decision)` | Avery Chen · `a sample board (see /sample-decision)` | | Password | `password123` | `password123` | | Pack | [`/pack/demo-pack-northlight-q4`](https://preparedboard.com/pack/demo-pack-northlight-q4) | [`/pack/demo-pack-acme-q4`](https://preparedboard.com/pack/demo-pack-acme-q4) | | Open first | Q4 Board — Series B term sheet | Q4 Board Meeting | On Northlight: Audit & Finance and Comp committees, related-party facility sublease (Gwen Park RECUSED), observer Jordan Hale. On Acme: Audit with linked charter + Comp document gap (Board Go soft cue), written-consent chase. Apply Settings → Board type preset → Public / reporting or Pre-IPO to see the public-lens Next Go cues. Or start at [/#try-a-board](https://preparedboard.com/#try-a-board). --- ## Related guides - [Private Company Board Governance](https://preparedboard.com/guides/private-company-board-governance) - [Venture-Backed Board Governance](https://preparedboard.com/guides/venture-backed-board-governance) - [Board Committee Charters](https://preparedboard.com/guides/board-committee-charters) - [Related-Party Transaction Policy](https://preparedboard.com/guides/related-party-transaction-policy) - [Board Governance Calendar](https://preparedboard.com/guides/board-governance-calendar) - [Board Jurisdiction Settings](https://preparedboard.com/guides/board-jurisdiction-settings) - [Director Attendance Record](https://preparedboard.com/guides/board-director-attendance-record) --- ## Conclusion Late-stage and public boards earn diligence trust when committees, related-party dealings, packs, and questionnaires live on one exportable record — without inventing SOX or EDGAR. Walk Northlight or Acme, apply the public / pre-IPO preset, then verify every claim on [Facts](https://preparedboard.com/facts). --- _Practice guidance, not legal advice. Bylaws, statutes, and counsel control._ Cite this page: Prepared Board, "Public & Pre-IPO Board Governance: Committees, Related-Party, Calendars & Export," https://preparedboard.com/guides/public-company-board-governance (updated 2026-10-05). Anchor: https://preparedboard.com/guides/public-company-board-governance#cite-this Product claims are verified at https://preparedboard.com/facts and https://preparedboard.com/agent-facts.json. Anything not listed there is not a Prepared Board claim.