Director Training Program Helps Corporate Officers and Board Members Meet Their Fiduciary Responsibilities

    LOS ANGELES, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- With regulations facing corporate
 directors at an all-time-high, a distinctive program at UCLA Anderson School
 of Management is more valuable than ever.  On October 8-10, 2003, UCLA
 Anderson School will offer its sixth Director Training and Certification
 Program.  This Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)-accredited program is
 one of the oldest and most rigorous director certification programs in the
 world.
     "This program was not developed as a knee-jerk response to the Enrons,
 Arthur Andersens or WorldComs of the world," said Alfred E. Osborne, senior
 associate dean, UCLA Anderson School.  "Our governance program is now in its
 seventh year and this executive education serves to help to reduce shareholder
 complaints and resulting litigation against directors and their firms."  Dr.
 Osborne, an experienced corporate director himself, is on the director
 program's faculty.
     Conducted through the Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at
 UCLA Anderson, this intensive three-day director-level program rapidly
 educates corporate directors and senior executives on Securities and Exchange
 Commission (SEC) regulations, Exchange rules, Financial Accounting Standards
 Board (FASB) guidelines, best board practices and the latest pronouncements
 concerning the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.
     UCLA Anderson School notes there is a specific need to educate directors
 and executives on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed by Congress last
 year and has added to the challenges facing America's boardrooms, just as the
 economy is fighting back from its prolonged downturn.
     "These types of director training programs are essential in both good and
 bad economic times," said Duke K. Bristow, an economist in the Price Center.
 Dr. Bristow developed and chairs this innovative program at UCLA.
 "Shareholders will benefit by directors getting past the confusion concerning
 Sarbanes-Oxley and getting back to building strong profitable companies.
 Directors must deal effectively with these new laws and regulations that may
 otherwise have an unintended negative lasting impact on employment growth,
 shareholder returns and the rate of the U.S. economic recovery."
     The Director Training and Certification Program at UCLA Anderson School
 was developed for directors and executive officers of established, newly
 public companies and leading private firms who seek a world-class corporate
 governance environment for their organizations.  The program also benefits
 venture capital partners and corporate officers who work closely with their
 boards.
     Program topics include:
 
      -- Building an effective board of directors
      -- Recognizing creative accounting
      -- SEC considerations for boards of directors
      -- Dealing with Wall Street
      -- Takeover response preparation
      -- Whistleblower investigations
      -- Securities laws with Sarbanes-Oxley
      -- What it is like to be sued as a director
 
     New to this year's program are stand-alone modules focused on the special
 needs of Audit, Compensation, Governance and Nominating Committee members.
 For more information on the Director Training and Certification Program and
 the three new committee modules, please visit http://www.directors.org .
 
     About UCLA Anderson School of Management
     UCLA Anderson School of Management is perennially ranked among the
 top-tier business schools in the world.  Award-winning faculty renowned for
 their research and teaching, highly selective admissions, successful alumni
 and world-class facilities combine to provide an extraordinary learning
 environment.  Established in 1935, UCLA Anderson provides management education
 to more than 1,400 students enrolled in full-time, part-time and executive MBA
 programs and doctoral programs.
     UCLA Anderson's faculty includes outstanding educators and researchers who
 share their scholarship and expertise in such fundamental areas as finance,
 marketing, accounting, business economics, decision sciences, operations and
 technology management, human resources and organizational behavior,
 information systems, strategy and policy.
     Recognizing that the school offers unparalleled expertise in management
 education, the world's business community turns to UCLA Anderson School of
 Management as a center of influence for the ideas, innovations, strategies and
 talent that will shape the future.
 
 

SOURCE  UCLA Anderson School of Management