A NOTEPAD ON COMPANY AND FINANCIAL LAW, NEWS AND REGULATION
Government proposals will mean that creditors will receive notice of proposed sales to a connected party
UPDATE 27 January 2012: The Government announced in a written answer in Parliament yesterday that it will not be going ahead with these proposals.
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Large audit firms’ role in the financial crisis is under close scrutiny
Publication of the guidance means that the Bribery Act 2010 will come into force on 1 July 2011
UPDATE 1 July 2011: The Bribery Act is now in force – see this post.
Government will announce the next steps in its review of corporate governance and economic short-termism in summer 2011
UPDATE September 2011: BIS has now announced that the Kay Review will constitute the continuation of its work on “A Long-Term Focus for Corporate Britain”. The Kay Review will publish an interim report in February 2012 and a final report in July 2012. See this post for details of the Kay Review.
In October 2010 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) launched a review of “corporate governance and economic short-termism” by issuing a call for evidence. In the words of BIS, this review
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The Prince of Wales’s holistic initiative on corporate reporting
Follows the Financial Reporting Council’s call for action in February 2011
Director did not want to be bound by his irrevocable undertaking to vote in favour of shareholder resolutions
Failure to give notice invalidates the business at the meeting
Redressing the balance in favour of the offeree company, and improving the offer process
UPDATE 22 July 2011: The changes to the Takeover Code will come into force on 19 September 2011 - see this post.
Suggestions from Governance for Owners on improving company stewardship
Government consultation paper on widening two exemptions to the requirement for a prospectus
UPDATE 8 July 2011: The widened exemptions discussed in this post came into force on 31 July 2011 – see this post for details.
Should we expect more of directors?
Proposals for simplifying small business taxation
Leading case says that it is more than a mechanical question of aggregate liabilities exceeding aggregate assets
The Financial Reporting Council’s work on auditor scepticism continues
The puppet and the puppeteer
UPDATE 11 March 2012: The High Court in the November 2011 case of VTB Capital v Nutritek International declined to follow the Antonia Gramsci case, refusing to let the corporate veil be pierced to allow contractual claims against non-contracting parties. See this post for more details of the VTB Capital v Nutritek International case and its analysis of recent authorities on piercing the corporate veil.
UPDATE 25 June 2012: The Court of Appeal has agreed with the High Court’s judgment in VTB Capital v Nutritek International and so has overruled Gramsci on this point.
UPDATE 20 August 2012: The Supreme Court will now hear the appeal in VTB Capital v Nutritek International, as the Canadian firm McCarty Tetrault discusses here (also a good overview of the case in the lower courts to date).
Learning lessons from the financial crisis
Environmental, social and governance considerations and the investment process
BIS will consult on the reform of audit and accounting regulations
Guidance note to assist listed companies in applying the UK Corporate Corporate Governance
Libyan Investment Authority shares in Pearson plc “frozen”
