Staff and Departmental
Development Unit
COMPANY DIRECTOR COURSES 2014
Introduction
Since 2003 SDDU has been running a highly-acclaimed ‘Company Director’ programme comprising seven
short courses. In 2014 this programme is taking a break and we are offering a one-day introductory course
covering the role of the company director and financial acumen and a half day Dragon’s Den ‘exiting’
session.
Participants
These courses are for University of Leeds staff who are, or might become, directors or non-executive
directors of University spin out companies or companies that are in some way connected to University
business. They are funded by SDDU and are free of charge1 to University of Leeds employees.
Employees of University spin-out companies and other organisations, and any member of University staff
setting up their own personal or private business or consultancy that is unconnected to their University
work or University business, are welcome to participate in the courses on a fee-paying basis. The fee is
£300 for the full day course and £210 for the half day course.
Course Dates and Details
To apply for places, please complete and return the attached reply form. All applicants will be contacted
and places confirmed in writing. Both courses will be held on the main University campus.
Introduction to the Role of the Company Director: Friday 16 May 2014, 09:00 – 16:00
The course will aim:
i. To provide you with an overall understanding of the role and responsibilities of a director and an insight
into how to carry out the role effectively, protecting both yourself and the company as far as is practical
from potential liabilities;
ii. To enable you to understand and interpret financial information, a key responsibility of any company
director.
It will cover:
Morning: Role of the Company Director

The company, the shareholders and the
director
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The officers of the board and their functions

Statutory books

Board meetings and how to run them

Corporate variety

The legal role of the director and legal
compliance

Companies Act 2006

Directors’ guide to staying out of jail

Basic statutory and criminal liability

Health and safety and the director

Director and Officers’ liability insurance
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Afternoon: Financial Acumen for the Co. Director
Converting last year’s profit into a healthy bank
balance
Strengthening your balance sheet at a stroke
Learning financial speak - understand the
‘gobbledegook’
Being one step ahead of your bank manager from
now on
Ensuring your company is perceived to be doing well
Learning about available funding for expansion plans
Stripping the camouflage from companies’ accounts understand why competitors do better than you
Discovering survival techniques
Creating an accounting health check
Understanding financial problems and questions you
should ask
Planning and preparing for an audit and getting the
most from this process
Please note, however, that if a booked place is cancelled without giving SDDU at least five working days’ notice
and the place cannot be filled (illness and family emergencies excepted), a charge of £60 per half day and £120
per full day will be made to cover some of SDDU’s costs.
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Exiting: Dragon’s Den: Tuesday 24 June 2014, 09:00 – 13:00
Please note that in order to attend this course you must have attended the above ‘Introduction to the Role
of the Company Director’ course or the ‘Role’ and ‘Financial Acumen’ courses on the previous programme.
The end or the start of the journey? Unless you desire a life style business, at some point in the
development of your business you must consider extra funding, sale or partial sale. With private equity
investment come two components, money and an exit plan requirement. In order to attract the right
investor the needs of both parties need to be aligned. This course will begin with a presentation on what
investors do and don’t want to see: how to prepare for the pitch and how to understand everyone's agenda.
It will then take the form of a ‘dragon’s den’, which will provide a case study-based process allowing
participants to understand how to get into the minds of the investor from a finance and an exit point of view.
Participants will have an opportunity to prepare their pitch based either on a case study or, as appropriate,
their own businesses. This will be run in true dragon’s den style, with dragons being either ‘in’ or ‘out’ and,
importantly, with a clear understanding of the rationale for the decision.
Course Tutor
Jo Haigh is a partner in fds Corporate Finance Services and in the fds Group, a specialist training and
development business that she founded at the start of the 1990s. An experienced dealmaker, Jo
specialises in putting together the right deal at the right time and in the right format for growing businesses
throughout the country. She has bought and sold over 300 companies in the last 20 years, specialising in
owner-managed companies. She has held over 40 non-executive roles over that period in companies
across the country and is currently non-executive director of six companies. She has helped many
businesses through successful transactions, sold three of her own companies and undertaken two personal
management buy outs. She is a regular presenter for the Institute of Directors on corporate governance
and mergers and acquisitions. Her long list of recent awards and achievements includes acting as a
columnist for RealBusiness.co.uk; twice winner of the IoD Business Advisor of the Year; named in the
Yorkshire Post top 100 entrepreneurs; nominated for Financial News’ Top 100 Most Influential Women in
Finance; voted ‘Star Speaker’ and ‘Outperforming Speaker’ four times at the Vistage Annual Speakers
Awards; author of four books: The Business Rules (2005 and 2006), An Entrepreneur’s Guide (2007),
Tales from the Glass Ceiling - A Survival Guide for Women in Business (2008), Finance for Non Financial
Managers (2011).
Penny Hatton, Director, SDDU
 0113 34 35587 fax 0113 34 34162  p.m.hatton@adm.leeds.ac.uk http://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/
© University of Leeds
February 2014
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The University of Leeds
Please return to Claire Savy, SDDU, Baines Wing, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT:
E c.savy@adm.leeds.ac.uk
F 0113 34 34162
T 0113 34 35587
COMPANY DIRECTOR COURSES 2014
Your name:
Job title:
Employee ID Number: (usually 6 digits starting with a 9):
Address to which further correspondence should be sent:
:
Fax:
E-mail:
Special requirements (diet, access etc):
Access and inclusion requirements: for more information please go to:
http://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/sddu-access-and-inclusion.html
PLEASE PLACE A TICK  NEXT TO THE COURSE(S) YOU WISH TO ATTEND. Please note that the ‘Introduction to
the Role of the Company Director’ course is a prerequisite for the ‘Exiting: Dragon’s Den’ course.

Introduction to the Role of the Company Director
Fri 16 May 2014, 09:00–16:00*

Exiting: Dragon’s Den
Tues 24 June 2014, 09:00–13:00
* A sandwich lunch will be provided
YOU AND YOUR (PROSPECTIVE) COMPANY
Please answer the following questions to help the tutor to prepare. Your replies will be shown only to the
tutor and will be treated in confidence.
1. Why do you wish to participate in one or both of these courses? What particular issues, questions
and concerns do you have about being a company director that you hope the course(s) will address?
2. Are you a company director at present?
Yes
No
3. At what stage are you in the process of setting up/running a company?
4. Is your company/prospective company connected to your University work or to University business or
is it your own personal or private business or consultancy?
It is connected to my University work
It is connected to University business
It is my own personal/private business/consultancy
Please provide a few words to explain your answer, including the size of the company, the nature of
its business, how it is financed and how many other directors it has.