College adding more courses for directors

Training program aimed at audit committee members, chairpersons

By JANET McFARLAND
Thursday, November 25, 2004 - Page B7

A Canadian training program for corporate directors plans to launch specialized courses for audit committee members and chairpersons, its founder said yesterday.

Chris Bart, founder and lead professor of the Directors College, said the new programs are now being developed and will give directors specific expertise, separate from the general director's certification course that is currently offered.

"This will be a second level of instruction and training," he said yesterday.

The Directors College, which was launched last year, is jointly sponsored by the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University in Hamilton and the Conference Board of Canada. Graduates receive the professional designation of Chartered Director.

Prof. Bart said the college is developing an additional training course for chairpersons because the job is critically important for boards to function well. He said chairpersons need to hone a variety of specific skills, such as developing the right agendas for board meetings, managing conflict resolution and guiding appropriate evaluations.

"Having the right chair is the most important thing for ensuring the proper functioning of the board," he said. "But this is an area where there is no training."

The program should begin soon, he said. But as a first step, the college is planning to do a focus group next week with current chairmen to develop ideas for the course.

As well, Prof. Bart said some directors who have taken the director's training course have said they are unwilling to sit on audit committees after learning more about the complexities and requirements involved.

As a result, the college is also developing a specialized course to help directors on audit committees deal with any "deficiencies" in their skills and ensure they can meet high new standards of oversight, he said.

Audit committees have become critically important in recent years as shareholders grow more concerned about accounting scandals and financial restatements. The committees hire and supervise the work of a company's external auditor and review financial statements before they are released.

Meanwhile, Canada's other major director's training program is also developing a specialized course in financial literacy.

Beverley Topping, chief executive officer of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), said the Governance College is planning to launch a module for directors on financial topics early next year in Toronto. It will be aimed, not only at audit committee members, but also at any directors who want more financial literacy skills, she said.

The three-day program will be separate from the core director's training program offered by the Governance College, which is jointly sponsored by the ICD and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Students can take the financial literacy course in addition to the regular training program, or without doing the other course.

Although the course is still being developed, Ms. Topping said the Governance College has received "a lot of interest in it already."

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