Accountants partner with McMaster

Directors' college finds more sponsors
Directors must be able to read company books to do a good job as board members.

That's the view of the latest partner to sign on to the directors' college, a joint venture of McMaster University and the Conference Board of Canada.

The Society of Management Accountants is the second sponsor to join the college. Accounting giant Ernst & Young enrolled last month.

The college hopes to send directors to school, with a curriculum ranging from business ethics to strategic planning to audit oversight. Graduates would be able to use C. Dir after their names, for chartered director.

"There should be some awareness of financial literacy to understand (for example) the financial acquisitions the company is looking at," said David Fletcher, of the management accountants' society.

Understanding risk-management controls is "dear to our heart", said Fletcher, vice-president of public affairs. Known as CMA Canada, the society is part of a global group with over 40,000 members. The college hopes to have four sponsors, including a top-line law firm.

The fraudulent collapse of firms like Enron and WorldCom (now MCI) has red-flagged the lack of oversight of directors. In many cases, directors were seen as mere backstops for their manager-executives.

The college expects up to 30 members of company boards at its first session in Niagara-on-the-Lake in November. The session is being held at the conference board's Niagara Institute.

The college will "want to do some monitoring of the marketplace" to see if companies are acting on its aims and programs, said Fletcher. Last year, it did a report on how to measure and improve performance of directors.

Two other groups have backed the college. The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), a $30-billion pension plan, said the focus on education is a real plus.

"The program is well thought-out, the content is comprehensive, and both board members and corporations will benefit from the college," said OMERS president and chief executive Dale Richmond.

And David Beatty, of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, said the college will help shape "the professionalism of boards across Canada."

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