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to be accountable and to be responsible for their actions. Cases on disqualification have often been used to set the bar for the standard of care for directors. Romer J in Re City Equitable Fire Insurance Company Ltd 362 stated that directors were not required to possess any special skills or professional qualifications and could only be expected to exercise care and skill to a level commensurate with the knowledge and experience of the individual director. The effect of this decision is that incompetence is seen as a defence and the higher the skill a person has, the more likely he or she will be subjected to liability. 363 Nevertheless, the standard of directors‘ skill and care has been raised further by virtue of section 174(2) of the Companies Act 2006. A director‘s skill and care is to be judged based on the objective standard expected from a reasonable person carrying out the same function and the subjective standards based on the particular individual‘s care and skill. The director‘s care and skill, therefore, will be determined on the higher standard of the two. 364 362 [1925] 1 Ch 40 at 428-429. 363 Eilis Ferran, Company Law and Corporate Finance (Oxford University Press, London, 1999) at 213-214. 364 Section 174(2) of the UK Companies Act 2006: ―This means the care, skill and diligence that would be exercised by a reasonably diligent person with— (a) the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the functions carried out by the director in relation to the company, and (b) the general knowledge, skill and experience that the director has.‖ 398
CHAPTER 12 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 12.1 Conclusion Separate legal entity and limited liability intertwine at a point where it involves directors’ act contrary to the interests of the company. Separate legal entity allows the person managing the company to hide behind the veil to avoid liability because the purported act belongs to the company which has its own personality. Limited liability on the other hand applies only to shareholders where their liability to contribute to the company’s liability depend on the amount of unpaid on their shares. Separate legal entity also provides opportunity for directors to act in their interests instead of shareholders. The law was developed then to impose duty on directors to act in the interests of the company. Shareholders are protected in this aspect because company’s interests have been equated as their interests and hence any director who acts contrary to those interests may be personally liable. Furtherance the company’s commercial success will nearly always be in the interests of the shareholders, but the conduct sometimes requires, for example, plant closure or the use of environmentally damaging production processes will often harmful other groups. Although a company’s success although in most cases refers to profit maximisation and in line with shareholders’ interests, the primary concern of the directors should be the company and not shareholders. This will avoid conflict of interests among all stakeholders if directors are able to act solely for the best interests of the company as a firm. There will be circumstances where the company’s interests may not be parallel to profit maximisation for example; a goal of short term profit maximisation implies conduct different in important respects from that required by a long term profit goal. 1 Long term profitability may depend on investing in research and development, capital equipment and training for example expenditure which will be avoided where the objective is to maximise profits only in the short term. 2 In respect 1 John Parkinson Corporate Power and Responsibility Issues in the Theory of Company Law (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1993) at 90 2 Ibid. 399
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http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.n
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ABSTRACT This study examines the le
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACNOWL
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CHAPTER 5 THEORY OF THE CORPORATION
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7.3.3.3 Distribute its Capital to M
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10.2.5.1 Meaning of Insolvency 10.2
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10.6.2.2 Carrying on of any Busines
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CHAPTER 12 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEND
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CLC Australian Company Law Cases CL
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Stanford LR Stanford Law Review Ste
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Facia Footwear Ltd (in administrati
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Re Avon Chambers Ltd [1978] 2 NZLR
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Re Produce Marketing Consortium Ltd
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Ultraframe (UK) v Fielding & Ors [2
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Mountford v Tasman Pacific Airlines
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Australia 3M Australia Pty Ltd v Ke
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Linton v Telnet Pty Ltd (1999) 30 A
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Malaysia Abdul Aziz bin Atan v Lada
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Perman Sdn Bhd & Ors v European Com
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Other Jurisdictions Singapore Rahj
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Companies Act 2006 Section 60(3)(c)
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Section 993 Section 993(2) Section
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Insolvency Act 1985 37, 70 Insolven
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Section 251 255 Part II Schedule 6
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Section 52(1) Section 52(2) Section
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Section 272(2) Section 272(2)(a) Se
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Section 385(4)(b) Section 385(4)(b)
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AUSTRALIA Absent Debtors Act (NSW)
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Section 206D(1)(b)(b)(ii) 374 secti
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Section 588FE(2)(a) Section 588FE(2
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section 588H (5) 241 Section 588H(6
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Section 598(3)(b) Section 598(3)(c)
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Bankruptcy Act 1967 MALAYSIA Sectio
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Section 130A(6) 391 Section 131 221
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Companies Regulation 1966 Regulatio
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CHAPTER 1 THE STRUCTURE OF THE THES
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A discussion of directors’ duties
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The far-reaching implication of cor
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2.2.1 The United Kingdom The common
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2.2.3 Australia Australia has been
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CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE SURVEY - AN OV
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shareholders, had failed to mitigat
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was mainly responsible for the chal
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3.3 Interests in the Company-Shareh
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contributed by the shareholders and
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Statutes have attempted to address
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how the matter should be dealt with
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4.2 Development of Corporate and In
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colonies. 14 The emergence of compa
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originally incorporated in order to
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usiness fraud. 42 In 1825, the Bubb
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Companies Act also reveals providin
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Companies Ordinance 1953 of Sabah a
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In 1977, the Cork Committee was app
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the Committee foresaw difficulty du
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operation and termination of a comp
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enforceability of security interest
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procedure, and dispensed with the o
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The creditors‟ protection princip
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shareholders and on personal bankru
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directors as trustees. 162 Members
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4.3.3 Development of Insolvency Leg
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In Australia, the government respon
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appointment of an administrative re
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the current statutes were not effic
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insist on protection to directors i
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and judgment to run the company. 21
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due to the difficulty in obtaining
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The Australian Law Commission in 19
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instead, enacted section 135 253 in
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4.5 Conclusion Malaysia, New Zealan
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CHAPTER 5: THE THEORY OF THE CORPOR
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needs someone to run it on its beha
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The implication of the decision is
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English decisions as guidance and t
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Shareholders who have to incur high
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interests of shareholders by maximi
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situation, directors have a duty to
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concluded purchasing goods from thi
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stipulates directors “may conside
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subsidiary and may continue to pros
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A holding company may use a subsidi
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section 187 of the Australian Corpo
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its holding company), act in a mann
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is just and equitable, to make an o
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Syndicates (NZ) Limited (in liq) 13
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a) Extent to which the Related Comp
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That the management did not differe
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equirement of insolvency and it doe
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The House of Lords in Woolfson v St
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subsidiary. Abdul Malik J held that
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defendant company. During a meeting
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Uniphoenix Corporation Bhd v Raymon
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justice alone is not sufficient; th
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lenders, employees, suppliers and c
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company and as the residual claiman
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The claim that shareholders‟ righ
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particularly lack of effective mana
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management of the companies. Credit
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players‟ interests intertwine wit
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important for directors to build lo
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Despite having included favourable
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at the intersection of a number of
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Directors must weigh any particular
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Directors will also enlist the serv
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Contractarians regard employees in
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terms to their liking, they either
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to boycott the company. 134 The com
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On the other hand, the duty owed to
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and experiences in order to dischar
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CHAPTER 7: A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS OF
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Economists divided real capital whi
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the transformation of shares as rea
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the company‟s ability to pay its
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purchase or will not become insolve
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available where special resolution
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The idea that maintaining share cap
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must be satisfied by the company in
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7.4 Conclusion The doctrine of capi
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and once a resolution is passed, to
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The term 'insolvency' has also long
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equivalent to medical negligence ca
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meaning of inability to pay debts.
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It is important to distinguish as t
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long as the accounts give true and
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current assets must be taken stock
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cases the presumption of insolvency
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It is interesting to note in reachi
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CHAPTER 9 THE COMMON LAW DUTIES OF
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Voluntary creditors can be divided
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are not personally liable for any l
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confidence, a trustee who has been
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interests of various parties in the
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overriding duty is to the sharehold
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to look at the directors‟ purpose
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9.3.3 Duty not to Fetter Discretion
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The decisions of the Federal Court
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case, directors should disclose the
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misconception that the case law and
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other reference as to the developme
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Australia and Malaysia have express
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out “ ...the judgment is in the b
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the prospect of success as well as
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judge adopted the principle of iden
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individual trading through a compan
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liability can be imposed on them wh
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liquidators when it is insolvent. C
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CHAPTER 10 DIRECTORS’ DUTY TO PRE
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Malaysia did not make any changes o
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interpretation of these provisions.
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sum of money that is owed or due.
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Hence, action can be brought agains
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Directors in Australia can be held
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to the director to prove that he or
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expect that the company was solvent
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In the case of Secretary of State f
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trading at a deficit. 64 In other w
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maintained in section 213 of the In
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not „a party‟ if he knew that m
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econcile the two judgments with one
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carrying it on (whether because of
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10.3.1.3 For any other Fraudulent P
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company. In this aspect, section 21
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to Australia and New Zealand which
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even though it was evident from the
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the steps taken were with the aim o
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decisions. 150 Therefore, directors
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The Law Commission proposed that th
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to reform the law, namely to reduce
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A similar issue was raised in the E
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The decision was later upheld by th
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10.4.3 Duty in relation Obligation
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fraudulent purpose.” 201 Although
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from the carrying on of the busines
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The first civil version of the inso
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amounts. 223 In Hussein v Good, 224
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of law of contract. The court must
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defendant. 244 Therefore, a directo
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additional capital, as well as a re
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trading without any other action ta
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Another defect of the section is in
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argue that there are reasonable gro
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10.6.2 Responsibility for Fraudulen
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Siow Yoon Keong v H Rosen Engineeri
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The courts have acknowledged that t
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The defendant in the case relying o
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To date, there have been few cases
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ability of the company to pay off i
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can be disqualified from taking par
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power to do so is an archaic equita
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is for a short period of time. This
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ights against the company are froze
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involves a situation where the comp
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11.2.3 Winding-up Liquidation is a
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11.2.3.1 Effects of Successful Avoi
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transactions, 59 the provisions cle
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11.2.3.1.2 Recovery from Third Part
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ecover the proceeds of sale or to p
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order. 83 If the value of the asset
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Without this class action, the unse
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the power to apply for a compensati
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defraud, which implies their culpab
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also be enforced by the company. 11
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The court has the power if it think
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contravention or pecuniary penalty
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discretion to order the director‘
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Marketing Consortium (No 2) 147 cle
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discovered that the director had en
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Page 421 and 422: ecause the court considered that it
Page 423 and 424: It should be noted that Re Cyona Di
Page 425 and 426: 11.3.7.2.3 Duration The court also
Page 427 and 428: contribution order is made to the
Page 429 and 430: This is similar to the case of frau
Page 431 and 432: company is using funds belonging to
Page 433 and 434: Since section 304(1) originates fro
Page 435 and 436: 11.3.8.2 Problems of Enforcement/Pr
Page 437 and 438: However, extracting promise of inde
Page 439 and 440: In relation to an action against a
Page 441 and 442: Investments Commission is entitled
Page 443 and 444: The position in Australia has clear
Page 445 and 446: Disqualification on the grounds of
Page 447 and 448: As a result of the recommendations
Page 449 and 450: exercised by the Registrar or the O
Page 451 and 452: actions which are committed with a
Page 453 and 454: The court has to deduce evidence of
Page 455 and 456: 11.4.2.1 Standard of Proof Disquali
Page 457 and 458: 11.4.2.2 Court’s Order Section 6
Page 459 and 460: of disqualification. 322 However, t
Page 461 and 462: mitigating factors considered by th
Page 463 and 464: 11.5 Other Remedies 11.5.1 Mareva I
Page 465 and 466: for under the Act. 348 The action p
Page 467: of trust or breach of duty in relat
Page 471 and 472: The separate legal personality conc
Page 473 and 474: deemed to be an alien concept to Br
Page 475 and 476: positive action to minimize losses
Page 477 and 478: insolvent. In Malaysia, there is no
Page 479 and 480: BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS and ARTICLES AHM
Page 481 and 482: BENNETT, Howard, 'Late Floating Cha
Page 483 and 484: COBURN, Niall F, 'Insolvent Trading
Page 485 and 486: http://ssrn.com/abstract=988944 at
Page 487 and 488: FISHER, Gregory, LEE , Janet and JO
Page 489 and 490: GUNASEKARA, Gehan and TOY, Alan, 'L
Page 491 and 492: HOPT, Klaus J., 'Comparative Compan
Page 493 and 494: KEAY, Andrew and Murray, Michael, '
Page 495 and 496: McCHESNEY, Fred S., 'Economics, Law
Page 497 and 498: OTTOLENGHI, S, 'From Peeping Behind
Page 499 and 500: ROSS, Mike, Corporate Reconstructio
Page 501 and 502: SCHWARTZ, Alan, ‗A Normative Theo
Page 503 and 504: WALTERS, Adrian, 'Void Dispositions
Page 505 and 506: WORTHINGTON, Sarah, 'Subrogation Cl
Page 507 and 508: REPLIES TO EXAMINERS APPENDIX 1 Pag
Page 509 and 510: Page 220-it is asserted that direct
Page 511 and 512: What are the criteria for determini
Page 513 and 514: addition it provides incentive for
Page 515 and 516: See also Secretary of State for Tra
Page 517 and 518: Most jurisdictions in Australia hav
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