Article Search Results

• Keeping the engine room clean

  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...

• The value of a culture of compliance

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Apr 2013

  Professor Bob Baxt reviews some recent court cases that highlight the importance of ensuring your companies have a proper culture of compliance in place. Directors, senior managers and officers of companies in Australia (referred to as directors here) are, of course, very familiar with spec...

• The Pike River Report – lessons for Australia

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Mar 2013

  Michael Tooma outlines the lessons Australian directors can learn from New Zealand’s Pike River Mine disaster that killed 29 miners in November 2010. At one level, the New Zealand report, Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy, reads like so many reports before it – another ...

• Indian company law gets a revamp

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Mar 2013

  Praveen Gupta outlines some of the proposed reforms to corporate law that could change the way companies operate in India. Back in the 1950s, as a young republic, India chose to tread the socialistic path. Not surprisingly, the nationalisation of the following ensued: airline industry (1...

• The benefits of youth

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Mar 2013

  Domini Stuart finds out how four of Australia’s younger directors got their start in the boardroom and the lessons they’ve learnt since then. In the old days, Australian boards could be described as "pale, male and stale", consisting almost entirely of men over 60 with sufficient grey hai...

• Managing mining’s many risks

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Nov 2012

  Tony Featherstone examines the many hurdles faced by mining boards and provides some tips on how directors can overcome them. Spare a thought for Australia’s resource sector. It faces a perfect storm of falling commodity prices, rising costs, new federal and state government taxes and roy...

• Capital raisings for small to mid-cap companies

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Oct 2012

  John Price explains how new capital raising rules for small to mid-cap listed companies will work and the issues their directors should consider. Share placements have been a popular way of raising funds in recent years, particularly for smaller companies. Australian Securities Exchange (...

• NFP reform concerns

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Sep 2012

  In a recent address, Mission Australia chairman Ewen Crouch outlined his concerns about proposed NFP reforms. An edited extract of his speech follows. The Government has released an exposure draft of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012, which will establish ...

• Centro: a year on

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Aug 2012

  As directors sit down to review their companies’ accounts this month, Domini Stuart examines how the Centro case may have changed boardroom behaviour. Just over a year ago, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) hailed the Federal Court’s verdict against eight directo...

• WikiLeaks: What can boards learn?

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Mar 2012

  Jacinta Cubis and Holly Lindsay argue that WikiLeaks holds valuable lessons for boards when it comes to whistleblowing. WikiLeaks first caught the world’s attention in April 2010 with the release of a leaked video filmed by US troops in Iraq. The video showed US combat forces targeting a...

• Greens Piece Double standards

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Aug 2010

  John M Green suggests business should demand as much from politicians as politicians do from business. Double standards Recently, two newspaper articles stared up from the same front page. In one, the corporate regulator rightly warned companies not to issue misleading profit fig...

• Inside Your Institute Work Place Health and Safety Taking the lead in workplace safety

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Jun 2010

  Gabrielle Upton reports on a recent panel discussion that focused on what will be expected of directors under new work health and safety laws. Taking the lead in workplace safety In December 2009, the Workplace Relations Ministers Council endorsed the Model Work Health and Safety Bil...

• Greens Piece Proxy by proxy

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 May 2010

  John M Green suggests it may not be the proxy advisory firms that are the problem, but some of the institutions that hire them. Proxy by proxy During each year’s annual general meeting season, directors come out blasting at corporate governance proxy advisory firms. It’s mostly d...

• Opinion Easing the OHS burden

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Apr 2010

  Maurice Baroni reviews a recent High Court case that places employers in a better position to argue, where appropriate, that it is not reasonably practicable to comply with NSW OH&S obligations. Easing the OH&S burden The High Court recently handed down a decision that clarifies ...

• Featherstone Reforming the NFP sector

  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...

• Feature NFP reform

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Apr 2010

  Tony Featherstone reports on how a raft of reform proposals may give the long-neglected not-for-profit sector a helping hand and free up its executives and directors to do what they do best: help make a better community. NFP reform Key points NFP ...

• Feature The black white and grey of conflicts of interest

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Oct 2009

  Most directors will face a conflict of interest at some time in their careers. Domini Stuart investigates how they could arise and how they should be handled. The black, white and grey of conflicts of interest Key Points Most directors will face a conflict of interest at some po...

• Opinion Directorship made simple

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Sep 2009

  Andrew Donovan and Peter Tunjic examine what they call the four functions of directorship. Directorship made simple We live in the age of Google governance – an immense fog of ideas and processes as high as it is wide. Everything appears to compete with everything else for the at...

• ASIC Report Swimming between the flags

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Jul 2009

  Swimming between the flags The market downturn has highlighted how exposed many Australian retail investors are to flawed business models and failed investments. In too many cases this has caused them devastating financial losses. There are many dimensions to poor financial outcomes for retail inve...

• Resilience in 2009 Seeing the wood and the trees

  Content Type: CDM Article

  01 Dec 2008

  Gabrielle Upton flags the key policy trends likely to affect directors and their activities in the coming year. Seeing the wood and the trees Directors need to keep their eye on the big picture as much as the detail of law – they need to see the wood as well as the trees. Policy trends a...