McGladrey Expands Corporate Governance Service Through Alliance With The Center for Board Excellence

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- McGladrey, the brand under which RSM McGladrey, Inc. and McGladrey & Pullen, LLP operate as one of the nation's largest providers of assurance, tax and consulting services, and The Center for Board Excellence (CBE) have formed an alliance to offer web-based board and leadership evaluation tools that have the potential to become the gold standard of excellence in corporate governance and leadership self-assessments.

"A frequently cited Journal of Business Ethics study shows that businesses that demonstrate integrity at the board and leadership level perform better financially than those that don't," said Joe Adams, managing partner and CEO with McGladrey & Pullen. "Board assessments improve a company's leadership effectiveness and overall financial performance. Our alliance with CBE enhances our ability to provide clients with deep understanding and insights into their board performance to help them manage risk."

There is no legislation requiring regular board assessments, however, all NYSE-listed companies are required to conduct board assessments and a majority of NASDAQ firms conduct them without a similar obligation.

"Businesses can wait for their industry or legislators to regulate corporate governance, or they can take the initiative to demonstrate board integrity and transparency," said Byron Loflin, president of CBE. The CBE's Leadership Excellent Assessment^™ web-based self-assessment ensures that:

• individual board members possess the right skill sets for their areas of responsibility and expected outcomes,
• board members are assessed by their peers for contributions relative to expectations,
• all board members are aligned with the CEO's vision of overarching business objectives and strategies, and
• senior leadership is aligned with the board's vision and expectations.

The CBE solution converts an expensive manual, time-consuming paper-based process into an automated online survey, offers third-party objectivity and improves board member directors and officers insurance profiles. "Our alliance puts clients at the forefront of governance compliance by demonstrating the commitment of their leadership to ethical performance," said Adams.  

The online tools are easy-to-use, customizable and a more effective board evaluation solution than traditional alternatives that exceed compliance requirements, plus they enable clients to establish benchmarking for continuous improvement. The CBE method offers a standardized, cost-effective and recognized approach that will not only allow for individual client board performance benchmarking, but also allow comparisons among boards within the same industries or sectors.

The CBE evaluation tools include:

• Board evaluation
• Board member self-evaluation
• Board member peer evaluation
• Audit committee evaluation
• CEO evaluation
• Senior management evaluation

The CBE Leadership Excellence Assessment online platform includes an automated survey that is flexible and can be tailored, along with robust report writing capabilities. The new service is available to clients immediately.

Learn more about McGladrey Governance, Risk and Compliance and Enterprise Management services.

About The Center for Board Excellence
The Center for Board Excellence (CBE) builds corporate governance and leadership evaluation solutions utilizing innovative knowledge technology for public, private and not for profit companies that seek to improve their enterprise's leadership effectiveness and overall impact in the marketplace.

About McGladrey

McGladrey is the brand under which RSM McGladrey, Inc. and McGladrey & Pullen, LLP serve clients' business needs. Together, they rank as the fifth largest U.S. provider of assurance, tax and consulting services, with 7,000 professionals and associates in more than 80 offices. The two firms operate as separate legal entities in an alternative practice structure. McGladrey & Pullen is a licensed CPA firm that provides assurance services. RSM McGladrey is a leading professional services firm providing tax and consulting services. Both firms are members of RSM International, the sixth largest global network of independent accounting, tax and consulting firms. For more information, visit the McGladrey website at www.mcgladrey.com, join our Facebook fan page at McGladrey News and/or follow us on Twitter @ McGladrey.

SOURCE McGladrey