The best online director certifications compared

The best online director certifications compared: a complete rundown of how popular courses measure against each other under key metrics.

Corporate governance has changed. The old system, defined by the “show up, sign off, and go home” mentality, is over. The same is true for any hint that your pathway to the boardroom is defined by who you know. 

Nowadays, boards want professionals in every aspect. Someone with leadership and decision-making experience is generally a must, but to be on a board, these people must be trained too. They have to know how things work in the high-stakes, high-pressure boardroom environment.

It’s no surprise when you consider how serious regulators have gotten about compliance, or how much shareholders, investors, activists, and even the general public are looking over your shoulder. Standards are higher; directors need to show they can match them.  

With that in mind, directors are now looking at their training options worldwide and wondering what’s best for them. The reality is that answer will be different depending on who you are, what board you’re on, and what you want from your governance career.

Let’s first look at the ways we analyse some of the common certifications:

• How they align with the laws of the land – because it’s important to know how relevant your qualification is compared to state or national rulebooks. 
• Their flexibility and degree of worldwide access – because any modern online qualification needs to be accessible across borders, whether the director travels routinely or simply works with others overseas. 

• Their ability to teach about boardroom behaviour and their use of real-world simulations – because nothing says education like being able to handle realistic situations as practice. 

• Their offering as part of a micro-learning effort – because many directors will understand exactly where they need training, and will therefore benefit from studying specific sections of wider curricula. 

Let’s look at the comparison from each of these 4 pillars in detail.

A major factor when selecting a director’s qualification is how aligned it is with the legal jurisdiction that you intend to work in. While there are many similarities between different states and countries, legal frameworks don’t translate universally across borders. 

For example, for those working in the United States capital markets, the NACD Directorship Certification provides an objective baseline of governance knowledge constructed around major governance-related legislation in that country, like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) or the SEC Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010). 

The programme requires candidates to study for an exam comprised of 50 multiple-choice questions and 16 detailed case scenarios. Furthermore, maintaining the credential requires continuous engagement, mandating 32 continuing education credits every 24 months.

In Canada, the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program (DEP) represents a similar benchmark standard that makes sense in a local context and, as a result, draws its expertise from directors with prominent experience in the Canadian marketplace specifically. 

This highly structured programme requires a substantial capital investment of $21,950 CAD and is structured across four intensive, delivered-live modules demanding 20 to 25 hours of preparation each.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Directors provides the Certificate in Company Direction across the United Kingdom. Assessing candidates on the famous UK Corporate Governance Code (the first of its kind and a global benchmark) and the specific statutory obligations defined by the UK Companies Act 2006, this qualification serves as the first stage toward achieving the Chartered Director (CDir) status under a UK Royal Charter. 

The same qualification is also highly relevant in Ireland, despite that country’s separate economy and status as an EU member state. Ireland’s corporate governance code remains highly similar to its UK counterpart, and so UK-based qualifications have high relevance. 

Meanwhile, the FT Non-Executive Director Diploma, formally accredited under Pearson’s Self-Regulated Framework as a Level 7 post-graduate qualification, has region-specific qualifications (for non-executive directors specifically) in both the UK and Asia.

Governance training has gone beyond the traditional in-person classroom model, especially since the pandemic. What’s more, many directors now see flexible delivery models as essential, given their own busy lives with many moving parts.

In line with that way of thinking, the FT Non-Executive Director Diploma mentioned above utilises a blended model combining self-paced digital learning with an intensive two-day interactive workshop. 

For professionals requiring maximum geographic and time options, the Diploma in Corporate Governance offered by The Corporate Governance Institute (TCGI) provides an entirely self-paced, digital format. It’s a qualification that began operating during the pandemic, so it was always designed to focus on flexibility, as well as applicability across borders (its pricing varies based on the region you choose it from: EUR, GBP or USD). 

The qualification spans about 30 hours of instruction. It lacks the peer-driven nature of live training programmes. Still, it does provide an accessible curriculum tailored for those who need the essential expertise to sit on a variety of boards.

The Wharton Corporate Governance Board Leadership Certificate adopts a similar approach to learning, with courses delivered over just six weeks and 4-6 hours of study each week.

It’s an old and well-established argument in governance that some of the greatest failures were committed by boards that, on paper, ticked all the boxes. What Makes Great Boards Great by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld analyses this in great detail. 

Ultimately, corporate governance failures rarely stem from an audit committee’s inability to analyse a balance sheet or a poorly-prepared board pack. Instead, they stem from a lack of behavioural confidence to challenge strong leaders or groupthink, not to mention real-world examples that turn these ideals into actions.

Because of that, several certifications have gone down the route of providing these real-world examples and talking about behaviour, even if the lack of quantifiable metrics makes explaining it harder. 

The Chartered Director (C.Dir.) Program – The Directors College explicitly targets behavioural psychology by placing candidates into a multi-day simulation with professional actors and real-world boardroom issues. Candidates are judged on their ability to apply reasoning to their decisions and steer a contentious meeting towards consensus before they are permitted to sit for their qualifying exam.

The problem with a lot of the current pressure on board members is that it’s fast-paced. Issues that dominate boardroom agenda space can change by the year, quarter – even month. That’s how quickly things are moving right now. 

It depends on the company size and industry, of course, but sometimes, longer-form learning isn’t what you might need in this environment. Instead, you could be looking for targeted knowledge to get you to a specific level of expertise fast. 

Enter micro-learning, the fourth and final crucial pillar of modern governance education.

The IMD offers a collection of executive certificates and diplomas, some of them geared towards governance itself, in a more general way. Meanwhile, TCGI offers specialised certificates in areas including ESG and AI, filterable by duration and education level. 

Corporate governance has changed. That change is rooted in directors no longer being “yes-people” who never challenge decisions, and their roles no longer being something nice to round off a professional career. 

Modern boards demand far higher standards, and with that demand, training has become necessary. 

The challenge for you is deciding what kind of training you want to pursue. Long or short, high or low cost, broad or targeted? Once you’ve answered those questions with the help of this guide, you’ll be better placed to take the next step in your educational journey.

• About NACD Directorship Certification – The Premier Boardroom
• ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program (DEP)
• Certificate in Company Direction | Institute of Directors – IoD
• FT Non-Executive Director Diploma
• Corporate Governance | Diploma | The Global Board Institute
• Wharton Corporate Governance | Board Leadership Certificate
• Chartered Director (C.Dir.) Program – The Directors College
• Board of Directors Training: Topics and Certifications – Diligent