Answer to Question #79039 in Finance for Owen Marsden

Question

What does the board need to know about their responsibilities under the Corporations Act and any suggestions that you could make about the need for corporate structural change that might be required.

Answer 1

Of course the company itself has numerous legal duties. These include duties under the Companies Act itself, such as to maintain full and accurate accounting records and to make relevant filings at Companies House (included the annual accounts). It also has to comply with all other laws and regulations applicable to it (such as tax and employment laws). As the company acts through the board of directors, the directors are responsible for ensuring compliance by the company. (regulation 29)

In certain cases, directors are made specifically liable for breach (regulation 68), for instance, in the case of accounting records, every officer of the company is liable to a fine, imprisonment or both