Managing director

Managing director is the term used for the chief executive of many limited companies in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and some other English speaking countries. The title reflects their role as both a member of the Board of Directors but also as the senior manager.

At investment banks and other financial institutions, "managing director" does not refer to the chief executive but can rather refer to the head of a major business unit.

The term Chief Executive (or its American equivalent "Chief Executive Officer" or just "CEO") is in general usage in the United Kingdom for the senior executive of public limited companies, charities and Executive Agencies. At subsidiary companies usage is more variable, with managing director often preferred.

Roles and responsibilities

The role of a Managing Director (MD) is to design, develop and implement the strategic plan for their company in the most cost effective and time efficient manner.

The Managing director is responsible for both the day-to-day running of the company and developing business plans for the long term future of the organization. The Managing director is accountable to the board and the shareholders of the company. It is the board that grants the Managing Director the authority to "run" the company.

In addition to the Managing Director, most companies have a Board of Directors. This board usually consists of such posts as: Finance Director, Sales Director, IT Director, Marketing Director, Technical Director and Chairman. In addition to these posts there may be a number of other directors including non-executive directors.

The Managing Director is a leadership role for an organisation and they fulfill a motivational role for the workers in addition to their more office-based work. MDs motivate and mentor members of the management team and chair meetings. The MD leads the company and develops the corporate culture for the organization.

As the title suggests, the Managing director needs to manage everything. This includes the staff, the customers, the budget, the company's assets and all other company resources to make the best use of them and increase the company's profitability.

The MD or Senior MD reports to the Board of Directors on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual or every decade basis to keep them informed of how the company is doing. The board will offer suggestions and ideas about how to improve the company to the Managing Director. It is the MD's responsibility to implement, improve upon or ignore these ideas.

The MD is legally responsible for the company's affairs, so they must comply with the appropriate rules and regulations set out in company law. These include following the proper audit procedure and not allowing the company to break any trade embargos or dealing in any illegal goods.

Finally, a MD is responsible for devising a succession plan to ensure that somebody is trained to assume the management of the company when the current MD resigns or retires. It is also important in case of unforeseen circumstances, such as the MD having an accident, that somebody else can run the company.

In the United States the term refers to a person in charge of a specific aspect of a business. This can be an officer or Director of the corporation in which the individual is employed.

General Managers share many of the same roles, but are not a Director, they are not members of the Board of Directors.

See also

• Agency cost
• Chair (official)
• Corporate governance
• Corporate title
• Executive director
• Non-executive director
• Board of directors
• Chief executive officer
• VP/GM