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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Aug 2010
An annual general misery or a valuable opportunity to engage retail shareholders?
Janine Mace
investigates whether the AGM has passed its use-by date.
Facing up to shareholders
The pros and cons of AGMs
Pros:
They are the only opportunity to interact face to face with retail sha...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2010
A standard for water reporting will soon be released.
Peter Day
,
Jayne Godfrey
and
Sean Hanley
explain how it will work.
Accounting for water
Water is a fundamental resource for all organisations – public a...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2010
An outline of some of the issues addressed recently by the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Policy and Advocacy team.
Policy Update
Our plan for better remuneration reports
On 4 June, we released a position paper proposing reforms to improve the unduly complex requirements for di...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jun 2010
ASIC plans to introduce disclosure benchmarks against which infrastructure entities will have to report.
Greg Medcraft
explains how these will work.
Improving disclosure by infrastructure entities
Over the last decade, there has been a steady increase in privately funded infrast...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2010
Tony Featherstone
discusses how proposed reforms will make due diligence easier for directors considering not-for-profit boards.
Reforming the NFP sector
Finally, real reform is being proposed for Australia’s not-for-profit (NFP) sector. After 15 years of proposals and promises, many...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Mar 2010
Paul Madden
explains how the new Standard Business Reporting initiative will reduce your business-to-government reporting burden.
Easing the reporting load
From 1 July 2010, Australian companies will have more time to focus on the bottom line with the introduction of Standard Busi...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Dec 2009
Tony Featherstone
discusses the merits of publishing a skills matrix to provide shareholders with the information they need to evaluate the board’s skill sets.
Detailing a board’s skills
A director of a top 100 listed company had to bite his tongue when asked about his skill set at the last...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Sep 2009
The global financial crisis caught many boards off guard.
Tony Featherstone
reports on how boards found the light to help them navigate their organisations through the storm.
Finding the light
Lessons from the GFC
Too many boards and executive teams accepted the statu...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Sep 2009
Belinda Gibson
details some of the projects ASIC has initiated over the past year to ensure the maintenance of good disclosure practices in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Effective disclosure builds market confidence
During this period of economic turbulence, a key objective of...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Aug 2009
ASIC’s
Michael Dwyer
provides some guidance for company directors ahead of the financial reporting season.
ASIC’s financial reporting guidance
Many company directors will be working to finalise the financial reports for the 30 June 2009 reporting period. The Australian...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Aug 2009
Louis White
reports on how more frequent shareholder communications, easy access to online information and the global financial crisis are leaving their mark on the annual report.
The evolving annual report
Key points
Because of the GFC:
More time will be spent on annual reports this ye...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Dec 2008
Following an often tough AGM season for many companies,
Tony Featherstone
examines the communications challenges directors are yet to face.
Shareholder communications
Nobody expected this year’s annual general meeting (AGM) season to be a picnic, but the level of shareholder host...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Dec 2008
News & Views
Governance needed to restore confidence
Corporate governance has an important role to play in overcoming the present world financial crisis, restoring confidence for the future and preventing regulatory overkill that would damage the entrepreneurialism needed to secure economic gro...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Nov 2008
Climate change has become an issue that no board can afford to ignore. We ask three business leaders how they are tackling the challenge.
Tackling the climate change challenge
The questions
1. What is your board doing to deal with the risks and opportunities associated with climate chang...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Nov 2008
Janine Mace
provides some advice on how directors can embrace CSR reporting as it becomes a necessity rather than a choice.
CSR reporting goes mainstream
It’s annual reporting time again. While directors are familiar with the demands of reporting on their company’...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Sep 2008
Improving non-statutory financial reporting
AICD and the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia) have put together a discussion paper to address the challenges posed by the non-standard company reporting of ‘underlying’ or ‘normalised’ profits.
The aim is to encourage companies to adop...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Sep 2008
Disclosing your financial position
In the current environment, the market’s attention is very much focused on the financial position of companies. As a director you often need to make difficult judgement calls when finalising accounts and making announcements about the results.
At ASIC, we are very...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2008
Domini Stuart
reports on how current accounting standards make forming a view on what’s ‘true and fair’ a tough task for directors.
What’s really true and fair
Back in the early 1990s, Australian companies could override accounting standards on the grounds that they would not provide a t...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jun 2008
A checklist of key questions for boards to ask ahead of this year’s reporting season.
Policy Update
Recent months have seen dramatic liquidity challenges for financial institutions and there are indications that these conditions are affecting the availability of credit to companies more gener...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 May 2008
Bolstering audit committees
Audit committees are an important element in a corporate governance framework. This importance has been recognised in many jurisdictions across the world, including Australia. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), together with the accounting bodie...