For our purposes, corporate management are those things that affect the internal workings of a business, whether it be a public corporation, a private company, a partnership, a sole trader or one of a host of alternative corporate structures.
In recent weeks, largely because members of the media are concerned so the whole industry is in a bit of a tizz, there has been much made of the BBC's policy of requiring some people working there to work on contract, where the contract is between the BBC and a company owned and controlled by the contractor. There are perfectly good reasons why employers want such an arrangement but Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have taken the view that this is a scheme designed to reduce personal income tax, especially where the contractor operated through an offshore company (often not in his or her own name). Now the whole situation has become even more confused as HMRC has lost a case that seemed like a sure-fire win.
I've been embroiled in a bit of a dust-up with a couple of people over a reply I made to a comment on a post on LinkedIn. The original question was actually interesting and I looked forward to a fascinating discussion around it. But what it proved to me was that we have a major problem with language where technical terms are used in a non-technical manner and those using them are not aware of the risks that using the terms can bring. One, which has long been a bug-bear of mine, is "partner." Let's be very clear about this: in business terms, a partnership is not something to be entered into lightly or wantonly. Get it wrong, and the consequences can be horrible.
On several occasions recently, our filters have picked up e-mail from a company promoting itself as "5mins" and, as is common, offering directory services. But this one is a little different. No matter what, the target is in a lose-lose situation, which is odd because on so many levels, the mail appears to be acting both properly and legally. But there is just enough that isn't right to raise suspicions - and the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, which is responsible for the implementation of the new GPDR regime and is already having a hard time handling the scaremongering that's almost as bad as Y2K.
Years ago, there was a cliché phrase that seemed to be repeated far too much: "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." We need to relearn this for the benefit of society as a whole and for business in particular as comment-lite and narrow opinion is promoted as the norm across the whole spectrum of media.
The Federal Court of Australia has ordered the winding up of 18 companies associated with the Macro Group, all of which have Desiree Veronica Macpherson as a director.
"Diploma, established in 1976, is a publicly listed commercial construction and property development company, undertaking a diverse portfolio of commercial, retail and high density residential projects," according to its website but Australia's corporate regulator, ASIC, has appointed liquidators to the group. Its shares on ASX have been suspended since the end of August 2016
We've been asking questions about Vijay Mallya for a very long time and not just in relation to the funding of his Formula One team, now rather less dependent on the group of companies he headed than it once was. Then again, the group isn't what it was, either, despite what it says on e.g. Expedia. Now he's been arrested, in London, the main questions are why has it taken almost a year since India cancelled his passport and asked for him to be sent back.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) part of the Norwegian Central Bank, is reported to be "by far the largest in the world" and it's not happy with declining returns on its investment. Companies, it says, are granting salary and bonus packages that deplete companies' resources and promote short-termism in management. It says that C level executives should be properly remunerated but that dashing the cash isn't the way to do it.
Hanjin Shipping Co. was the subject of an order placing the company into liquidation by court in Seoul this morning. Its collapse is a lesson to those that think running a deficit year after year is acceptable. Sooner or later, it found, people stop pumping good money after bad.
The Australian Federal Court yesterday found that German construction group holding company Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft (Hochtief AG) engaged in insider trading.
The Judge had express warnings for businesses operating in Australia and expressed his criticisms in terms more usually reserved for financial services companies. He reserved special warnings for foreign corporations with operating units and subsidiaries in Australia.
Airbnb, already facing difficulty in relation to unlicensed rentals, has issued an e-mail to all its customers requiring them to enter into a specific commitment relating to discrimination. If users do not specifically accept the policy, Airbnb says, "you won’t be able to host or book using Airbnb." But the policy has aspects that some will find difficult or, arguably, illegal to accept.
