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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
It is very difficult to train, audition or prepare for the role of chairman. Tony Featherstone provides tips on how aspiring chairmen can design a path to the busiest boardroom job.
Some directors were born to lead boards. Bill d’Apice, a lawyer, has chaired more than a dozen in a distin...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
John M Green questions whether working from home may be shirking from home.
With swathes of non-executive directors working from home (WFH) for big licks of time, we must think it’s a top idea. For a lot of what we do, it is.
Technology is now so brilliant. It’s a snap to zip through board ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Gillian McFee talks to Zilla Efrat about the many challenges of sitting on a sports board and her views of reform in the not-for-profit and aged-care sectors.
Even though she didn’t play basketball, Gillian McFee FAICD says she was appointed to the Basketball Australia board because of he...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
1944 - 2013
It is with great sadness that the Australian Institute of Company Directors learnt of the passing of its chairman, James Strong AO FAICD, last month.
Strong, who was also chairman of Kathmandu Holdings and a director of Qantas Airways, died aged 68 in Sydney on 3 March due to lun...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Louise Pocock provides some tips on how a board can help management strike a balance between short-, medium- and long-term horizons.
An effective board will generally adopt strategies that manage and strike a balance between short-, medium- and long-term horizons. That is, it will pay att...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Mark Easton explains why directors need to be mindful of their duty to act fairly between shareholders and consider carefully the effect their decisions could have on minority shareholders.
The Corporations Act 2001 provides far-reaching remedies for oppressed minority shareholders.
Direct...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Not-for-profit (NFP) boards and their fundraising staff were not seeing eye to eye and needed to start communicating better with each other as funding tightened in uncertain economic times. That was the view of Andrew Thomas, Perpetual’s general manager for philanthropy, when addressing the Australi...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
In her final column, Belinda Gibson outlines what ASIC is doing to uphold Australia’s market integrity.
It has been my privilege to contribute to this magazine for over five years, but this will be the last, as my term as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) deputy ch...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Peter Pearce
dispels some modern myths to help directors and their organisations embark on an ethical journey.
Ethics is the essential but too often silent ingredient in corporate governance, risk and compliance (GRC) efforts. For directors and boards, GRC and a whole lot else will alwa...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
A look at what’s new from Company Directors’ book store and our unique publishing process.
Company Directors is not only a niche distributor but also a niche publisher of books on governance, board operations and directorship. Our book store is highly focused on topics of specific interest ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Very little can be more damaging to an organisation than a dysfunctional board. As Kylie Hammond notes, it is bad for the bottom line, can tarnish or destroy entire brands and leaves an ugly stain on the reputations of the company’s directors.
Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina opens with the line:...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Tony Featherstone warns that companies that ignore the income needs of the rapidly growing self-managed superannuation fund sector do so at their peril.
Responding to the investment needs of an ageing population and the seemingly unstoppable rise of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Fiona Baron discovers that serving on a professional services firm’s board is all about leading by consensus and influence, rather than relying on authority or positional power.
Professional services firms are overwhelmingly about partnerships – partnerships of highly specialised individ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Phil Ruthven argues that Australia’s growth potential lies in developing its top one-third to take advantage of the Asian century.
By world standards, Australia has not populated or developed as much of its massive landmass, water resources or coastline as most other continents and nations ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
A greater focus on the market and customer needs can only be good for any organisation. Phil Currey provides some pointers on how directors can help boost this focus.
Ask any group of business people for a definition of marketing and you will get as many different answers as there are people in ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
A monthly review of the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ policy and advocacy team’s key projects and issues.
Focus on executive remuneration Executive remuneration is back in the spotlight this month as the Government seeks feedback on its 2009 Termination Payments Act, a...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Many not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, were heading into a "perfect storm", if they weren’t already in it. That was the view of Dr John Harte FAICD, the founder and principal of Integrity Governance, when addressing the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ NFP Forum:13 in Sydney last month –...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Kathleen Conlon talks to Tony Featherstone about boardroom diversity, the risks of policy-on-the-run, strategy formation and how emerging directors can find their first board position.
A constant danger for boards is the potential for "groupthink" if directors agree too easily with the co...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Martin Kriewaldt explains why he has enjoyed working on Company Directors’ National Conference Committee.
Company Director (CD): What are your current directorships?
Martin Kriewaldt (MK): I am chairman of Hyne Timber (a 130-year-old family-owned private company) and InteriorCo (an unl...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Listed companies have jumped many hurdles to improve their executive pay practices and avoid falling foul of the "two-strikes" law. Now, as Domini Stuart reports, a new wave of pay reforms are heading their way.
The second reporting season since the introduction of the "two-strikes" rule l...