IF YOU'RE A BANK DIRECTOR
By Clarence G. McDavitt, Jr. '26. (Cambridge: Rankers Publishing Co., 1950) 118 pp., $3.50.
This small book is addressed to the 100,000 bank directors in the country and to all potential directors as well. In non-technical and informal style, Mr. McDavitt ( a bank president and director himself) discusses the subject authoritatively. For the first time the bank director has available a practical guide to his activities.
The qualifications, powers, and duties of a director are first analyzed. This leads to the principal function of the board as a who'e which is that of policy determination rather than operating details. Perhaps the most il- luminating—and disturbing—chapter deals with criminal and civil liabilities under the title, "38 Ways to Get Into Trouble." As an antidote, this is followed by, "Three Ways to Stay Out of Trouble." One must decide whether the honor and nominal fees are sufficient to compensate for the responsibilities and liabilities assumed. The concluding chapter gives suggestions for efficient conduct of meetings of the board.
On the whole, Mr. McDavitt is to be congratulated on a readable and useful work which should be required reading for all actual and would-be directors.
