Welcome to the Centre for Corporate Governance
The Australian Centre for Corporate Governance aims to promote dialogue in the critical area of corporate governance among industry bodies, companies and their boards of directors, investors, professional services firms, academia, and government. The site is tailored for the governance concerns of Australia and includes a diverse collection of governance tools, resources and thought leadership from Deloitte and third party sources.
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Risk management and internal control
The second edition of the Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations made significant changes to the scope of Principle 7: Recognise and Manage Risk. These changes reflect the increasing expectations of stakeholders and supervisors/regulators as to how companies should manage risk and require companies to ensure management and oversight of material business risks.
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Recognise and manage risk: A guide to compliance with ASX Principle 7: A reference to help facilitate compliance with the ASX Corporate Governance Council’s revised Principle 7.
Audit quality
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ASIC has released its 2009 audit firm inspection report, which covers the inspection of audit firms substantially completed in the period 1 January 2008 to 30 June 2009 as part of ASIC's audit inspection program.
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Board effectiveness: The director's cut
Deloitte Australia’s annual survey is based on interviews of over 200 chairs and directors of the ASX 200. It establishes a benchmark for Australian boards and enables directors to identify both individual and collective trends and issues.
- Click here to read an excerpt of the report.
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Director and officer duties
ASIC has released a consultation paper outlining proposed guidance to directors on their duty to prevent insolvent trading. The proposed guidance includes a description of some of the factors ASIC will take into account in assessing whether there has been a breach of the insolvent trading provisions. Feedback on the proposals is due by 22 January 2010.
Board Audit Committee Conversation Series
Since early 2006 Deloitte Australia has held forums for Board Audit Committee members and chairs on key topics.
Hot Topics
Productivity Commission's inquiry into executive pay
On 4 January 2010, the Productivity Commission released its inquiry report into Executive Remuneration in Australia. The report makes recommendations that seek to ensure executive pay practices are in line with community standards and sustainable business practices. The recommendations are designed to improve board capacities, reduce conflicts of interest, encourage stakeholder engagement, improve disclosure and ensure well conceived remuneration policies.
Employee share scheme bills passed
The bills on the reform of employee share schemes (ESS) were passed by both houses of the Australian Federal Parliament, without amendment, on 2 December 2009. The new law applies to shares and rights to shares acquired on or after 1 July 2009. Companies should now review their existing and proposed ESS arrangements in light of the new ESS tax laws.
Governance
The current economic volatility is increasing pressure on companies to improve their governance practices.
- The Walker Review outlines ‘defined principles’ for corporate governance in the UK banking industry. The Review’s recommendations indicate the potential direction that a regulatory response may take post the global financial crisis and are therefore noteworthy for Australian companies. A snapshot of the background and themes of the Walker Review is provided by Deloitte for directors of Australian companies.
- OECD publishes 'Corporate Governance and the Financial Crisis: Key Findings and Main Messages'
- OECD publishes 'The Corporate Governance Lessons from the Financial Crisis'
- Governing in Volatile Times: Even More Pressure on Audit Committees: The current credit crisis has prompted virtually every audit committe to place the financial health of their organisation under the microscope.