Professional Due Diligence Certification Programs

The Certified Due Diligence Professional Credential

The Certified Due Diligence Professional credential is exclusively issued by the Association of Due Diligence Professionals, the membership association serving the due diligence industry.

Certification as a Certified Due Diligence Professional is granted by:

1. Successfully satisfying minimum standards of relevant experience and training,
2. Successfully completing a rigorous examination to demonstrate due diligence knowledge, performance, proficiency and comprehension, and
3. Committing to high standards of due diligence ethics and practices.

The due diligence profession is challenging, changing, and competitive. In traditional due diligence, now dating back to the middle of the last century, decision makers and specialists responded to a wide variety of complex issues by applying their own knowledge and skills. This resulted in a rather mediocre overall track record and decidedly lackluster success, most strikingly evidenced in the M&A sector where two-thirds of all acquisitions since 1960 failed completely, or failed to deliver as expected.

In the modern world, the profession is also modernizing, finally becoming a formal professional discipline, and as a practitioner, you must also change with the times, using the discipline of due diligence in practical application of your skills to become more valuable to your organization or to your clients.

Professional Certification

Certification as a Certified Due Diligence Professional from The Association of Due Diligence Professionals can help you with many professional and personal benefits:

• Increase your reputation... your personal brand
• Increase your respect, your esteem and your credibility, with management, your colleagues, and your peers
• Increase your salary or consultancy rates
  
• Earn the right to identify yourself as a Certified Due Diligence Professional
• Be at the leading edge of the due diligence discipline
• Benefit your career, with potentially higher positions
• Be recognized for your advanced professional capabilities, your new knowledge, your new expertise
• Know more about due diligence than most everyone else
• Network for new and valuable contacts
• Demonstrate your commitment to the profession

Professional Due Diligence certification also provides protection for employers and clients from untrained individuals.

Certification eligibility is completely impartial and nondiscriminatory.

All Examination scores are kept confidential.

Who can become Certified Due Diligence Professionals?

Executives Scientists Managers Regulators Board Members Educators Shareholders Researchers Founders Bankers Suppliers Intellectual Property Professionals Law Enforcement Professionals Legal Professionals Tax Professionals Accounting Professionals M&A Professionals Investors Security Professionals Human Resources Professionals Technologists Consultants Law Makers

Vendors Intellectual Capital Professionals Entrepreneurs Investment Bankers Engineers Business Decision-Makers CEOs CFOs CIOs CMOs CTOs CSOs Human Capital Professionals Investigators Senior Vice Presidents Vice Presidents Directors Private Equity Managers Analysts Licensees & Licensors Business Buyers & Sellers Researchers Auditors

Coverage Areas in the Due Diligence Professional Certification Program

Administration Communications Facilities Finance Human Capital Information Technology Intellectual Capital Legal Management Marketing

Operations Planning Production Products/Services Quality Research & Development Sales Services Technology

The Certified Due Diligence Professional Examinations

The Certified Due Diligence Professional Examinations objectively measure the critical knowledge and abilities needed by due diligence professional practitioners, with uniform standards for measuring such knowledge and abilities. The coverage and the passing scores for each examination are set at levels to ensure that candidates possess at least the minimum knowledge and abilities necessary to professionally perform due diligence activities.

A. Certified Due Diligence Professional Examination

This is the core Certification Examination for the discipline of due diligence. This Examination objectively measures the critical knowledge and abilities needed by due diligence professional practitioners, including:

• The foundations upon which to base any and all due diligence processes;
• How due diligence serves a broad range of interests, including executives, managers, boards of directors, shareholders, attorneys, accountants, business brokers, commercial bankers, investment bankers, mergers and acquisitions firms, private investors, venture capitalists, and all other parties involved directly or indirectly with due diligence processes;
• The basis of due diligence as a structured and systematic program of planning, identifying, prioritizing, collecting and analyzing appropriate, relevant, necessary data;
• How due diligence provides a consistent, more efficient, and methodical approach;
• How due diligence supports fundamental decision management;
• How due diligence programs are strategic initiatives by the decision-makers of every organization, adding structure to the decision management process; and
• How due diligence is an integral, ever-present facet of organizations' strategies;
• How due diligence programs assist management through every decision; and
• How due diligence creates significant improvement in organizations' capabilities, risk reduction, agility, morale and profitability.

B. Certified Due Diligence Specialist Examinations

Once you have received your Certified Due Diligence Professional certification, you will be eligible for the Certification Examinations for the specialty due diligence disciplines, including:

• Mergers and Acquisitions Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Intellectual Property Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Cultural Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Legal Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Financial Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Human Resources Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Management Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Research and Development Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Quality Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Marketing Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Communications Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Sales Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Technology Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Real Estate Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Information Technology Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Administration Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Operations Due Diligence Specialist Certification
• Facilities Due Diligence Specialist Certification

• The Certified Due Diligence Specialist Examinations are offered starting in the fourth quarter of 2010.
• The cost for each Certified Due Diligence Specialist Examination is $500.00.