About the Association

Mission

The mission of The Association of Due Diligence Professionals is to advance the field and discipline of due diligence, and the practices of professionals dedicated to due diligence success, through education, standards, certification, research and support, with infrastructure to support and enable due diligence at both the global and local scale.

Click here to see some of the categories of due diligence covered by the Association.

Purpose

• Provide global leadership and the central voice to represent the field
• Educate and support policy makers in business, government, non-profit and academia
• Establish and disseminate international standards, best practices and ethical practices for the field
• Advocate on issues of importance to the field, for the members and the public good
• Members have the prestige of being associated with the most important professional association, and the knowledge community of due diligence
• Professional development, education, standards, testing and certification programs for individuals and organizations
• Formally define the field of due diligence
• Provide awards and recognition programs for individuals and organizations
• Produce substantial research in the field and reverse the lack of sufficient research by conducting research, collecting data, providing grants, training people and organizations to conduct research
• Manage national, chapter, and virtual conferences, seminars and workshops, especially to provide professional development through online conferences, podcasting, webinars, telephone conferences, course systems and the other emerging communications technologies, following the trend away from historically expensive and time consuming national and local conferences and meetings, bringing the members’ needs to their home or work computer.
• Produce substantial scholarship in the field and reverse the lack of sufficient scholarship by academic organizations by researching due diligence, publicizing due diligence scholarship, collecting and analyzing local, national and international data through our research center, and disseminating due diligence research and scholarship to the Association members and to the education and policymaker communities.
• Be a comprehensive association that generates professional education, certification and professional development services to its members, rather than just another conference organizer.
• Promote the general perception of the field as positive and comprehensive.
• Reverse the status quo that has led to complacency and lack of innovation in the field.
• Transcend the problems and failures of historic and traditional due diligence.
• Ally and work with other professional associations and other types of organizations to advance the field and to serve our members.

History

The Association was founded to provide education, professional standards and forums as the first professional association to recognize the evolution of due diligence as a separate field, discipline and industry.

The history of The Association of Due Diligence Professionals dates back to 1984. The earliest concepts were driven by the need for an independent organization to proactively educate and assist people and organizations to understand and make better decisions with lower risk, by using an early version of the discipline originally termed ‘management due diligence’. A new paradigm evolved from insights garnered from:

• hundreds of experiments in risk analysis, fraud prevention, technology development and corporate and financial engineering,
• dozens of educational and training experiments in joint educational seminars with firms such as IBM, and
• a formal research and development program begun in 1993, culminating with the development and refinement of the first scientific due diligence systems and the first due diligence standards by 2003 at a cost of over $3 million in R&D expenditures to date.

This combination of real world experience, formal scientific testing, formal education testing, and formal technology development, is the basis of the new paradigm of modern due diligence, and the critical foundation of The Association of Due Diligence Professionals.

Objectives

The objectives of The Association are:

• Educate society in all aspects of due diligence
• Develop the first due diligence standards and best practices
• Establish formal testing and certification programs for the due diligence profession
• Teach due diligence to all professionals, and to perform to the highest due diligence principles and values
• Establish a due diligence research center for the continuous improvement of due diligence
• Develop strong relationships with other organizations to help enhance all aspects of due diligence
• Ensure that the Association operates knowing that its every action reflects on the entire due diligence profession
• Develop a formal science of due diligence
• Develop tools to allow affordable due diligence for organizations of any size, not just the larger organizations
• Develop university-level accredited due diligence courses and degree programs
• See all sectors of society reach a level of respect for due diligence, such that due diligence becomes an automatic part of all thinking and management … “Of course we have due diligence. If we didn’t have due diligence, it would be like not having accounting or management or marketing or legal.”

Team

• Board
  • Charles F. Bacon, Chairman
  • Michael W. Brown, Director
  • Georgina K. Lee, Director
• Committees
  • Membership
  • Education, Professional Development and Training Committee
  • Public and Legislative Advocacy Committee
• To become a volunteer and help the Association, please email Volunteers.
• To apply to become a member of the team, please email Team.
• To apply to become a member of the Advisory Board, please email Advisors.

The Association of Due Diligence Professionals is a Colorado Non-Profit Corporation

For more information, please email The Association of Due Diligence Professionals.