Exhibit 31(a)

                          CERTIFICATIONS FOR FORM 10-Q

I, William M. Beard, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer,  certify
that:

     1.   I have  reviewed  this  quarterly  report  on Form  10-Q of The  Beard
          Company (the "registrant");

     2.   Based on my  knowledge,  this  quarterly  report  does not contain any
          untrue  statement of a material  fact or omit to state a material fact
          necessary to make the statements  made, in light of the  circumstances
          under which such  statements were made, not misleading with respect to
          the period covered by this report;

     3.   Based on my knowledge,  the financial statements,  and other financial
          information  included in this quarterly report,  fairly present in all
          material respects the financial  condition,  results of operations and
          cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods  presented in
          this report;

     4.   The registrant's  other certifying  officers and I are responsible for
          establishing  and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as
          defined in Exchange Act Rules  13a-15(e) and  15d-15(e))  and internal
          control  over  financial  reporting  (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
          13a-13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

          (a)  Designed such disclosure controls and procedures,  or caused such
               disclosure  controls  and  procedures  to be  designed  under our
               supervision;  to ensure that material information relating to the
               registrant,  including  its  consolidated  subsidiaries,  is made
               known to us by others within those entities,  particularly during
               the period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

          (b)  Designed  such  internal  control over  financial  reporting,  or
               caused such  internal  control  over  financial  reporting  to be
               designed under our supervision,  to provide reasonable  assurance
               regarding  the   reliability  of  financial   reporting  and  the
               preparation  of financial  statements  for  external  purposes in
               accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

          (c)  Evaluated  the  effectiveness  of  the  registrant's   disclosure
               controls  and   procedures  and  presented  in  this  report  our
               conclusions  about the  effectiveness of the disclosure  controls
               and  procedures,  as of the  end of the  period  covered  by this
               report based on such evaluation; and

          (d)  Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's  internal
               control  over  financial   reporting  that  occurred  during  the
               registrant's  most  recent  fiscal  quarter  that has  materially
               affected,  or is  reasonably  likely to  materially  affect,  the
               registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.   The registrant's other certifying  officers and I have disclosed,  based on
     our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
     the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board
     of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

     (a)  All significant  deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
          operation of internal  controls  over  financial  reporting  which are
          reasonably  likely to  adversely  affect the  registrant's  ability to
          record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

     (b)  Any fraud, whether or not material,  that involves management or other
          employees who have a  significant  role in the  registrant's  internal
          control over financial reporting.

                                         THE BEARD COMPANY

                                         /s/ William M. Beard
(Date)   August 13, 2003                 _______________________________________
                                         William M. Beard, Chairman of the Board
                                         and Chief Executive Officer