Strategic Leadership Program-Almost Over!

Strategic Leadership Program(SLP)

My group gives its final presentation this Saturday (June 3) as its final requirement to complete this program. It is a 2-year program on strategy development that is a requirement to become a Certified Management Accountant.

There are three professional accounting designations in Canada

• CA-Chartered Accountant
• CGA-Certified General Accountant
• CMA-Certified Management Accountant

I first got my CMA in 1986 and after I did not pay my dues in 1993, I lost my designation. I was required to take this course to become recertified.

The course has several components:

• Four management reports. These are short reports that show how academic concepts can be applied to your workplace.
• Six 2-day seminars over a 2-year period. Each seminar requires a group presentation and readings to be completed. Each group member completes one or more research reports for their group and then your group (4-5 people) prepares and delivers a PowerPoint presentation to the seminar group.
• 2 large group reports. The second is called the board report and must be written out and then presented to a 3-person industry panel for marking.

The SLP course is like doing a mini-MBA. There is a certain element of luck involved in course success. There is a lot of group work (each 15-18 person seminar group is divided up into 4 smaller groups) and if you are in a weaker group, your marks will suffer.

There are many academic articles to read and there is a 50-70 page notes package given for each module too.

Group presentations are the most stressful and the most fun. I was lucky to be in a strong group so the work was not so strenuous.

We give presentations on the recommended business strategy of a company. Recommendations are based on individuals group members research on various aspects of a fictional company. Presentation format is usually 20 minutes for the modules but is 30 minutes for the final board report presentation.

Our group's preferred format is

1. Introduction
2. Strategy
3. Operations
4. Implementation Plan
5. Conclusion