AICD Report

Asian focus at seminar; Do you really know who you are dealing with?; Congratulating CDC graduates

Asian focus at seminar

The Australian Securities & Investment Commission recently hosted a week-long Corporate Governance Seminar in March attended by more than 30 delegates from the Asian region. The AICD was invited to participate, presenting a day on director issues. During the morning, CEO Ian Dunlop highlighted key aspects of corporate governance from the perspective of a director. In the afternoon delegates participated in a half-day training workshop applying those principles. The seminar gave the AICD the opportunity of raising awareness of its many activities, and enabled delegates to experience first hand, a sample of our training program. The program provided an opportunity for the AICD to strengthen its links with Asian colleagues on governance issues.

Do you really know who you are dealing with?

As a small business operator you deal with a range of people and companies every day. You may extend credit to some of these people and companies or enter into other business transactions with them. Do you really know though, who you are dealing with? You can minimise your risk of being ripped off. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia (ITSA) provide a range of information that will enable you to be more informed about who you are dealing with. Some of this information is free of charge and some is available for a small fee. Basic company information is available by a free search on the ASIC web site at www.asic.gov.au or from public access terminals at ASIC Business Centres in each State. This free search will tell you whether a company is registered. It's an offence for a company to trade if it is unregistered, and you should remember that any contracts entered into by unregistered companies are invalid. This free search will also tell you whether a company has lodged an annual return. Failing to lodge an annual return can be a warning sign that all may not be well within a company.

You can also check free of charge, the ASIC website for the Disqualified Directors Register, soon to be renamed the Disqualified Persons Register. This register identifies whether a person you are considering dealing with is banned under certain provisions of the Corporations Law from being involved in the management of companies. ASIC can provide you with a "person search" for $31, listings all the companies that a person has been or still is, an officer of, and identifies whether any of these companies have an external administrator such as a liquidator or receiver appointed. The search will also tell you whether any of these companies have been deregistered. ASIC can also provide current information concerning any company registered in Australia, for a $10 fee. This extract provides information including where and when the company was registered, who the officers of the company are, and where its registered office is located. For $17, an historical extract can be obtained from ASIC, which provides data about a company including past officers and registered offices.

These three searches are also available through information brokers, however the cost of these searches does vary from broker to broker. History has shown that some people have a tendency to become bankrupt. Is this the type of person you want to deal with? Wouldn't you like to be able to make an informed decision about engaging in business with them? Well you can, if you want to. ITSA provide a service through brokers known as the National Personal Insolvency Index (NPII) which lists every person who has become bankrupt. A search of this index will tell you if a person has been the subject of a bankruptcy proceeding, whether the bankruptcy has been annulled or discharged and the name of the trustee administering the matter. The database holds information on over 400,000 individuals, including aliases. A search of the NPII will cost $25 but this is a small price to pay for information which may save you thousands of dollars through bad debts or lost investments. NPII searches are available through the following information brokers:

Lawpoint - 1800 814336

Legalco - (02) 9283 5333

Australian Business Research - 1300 366402

Online access via PC may also be arranged through CITEC or Lawpoint.

For more information phone ASIC's Infoline on 1300 300 630 or visit its web site at www.asic.gov.au

Congratulating CDC graduates

Australian Capital Territory

Bill Greenwood FAICD Principal Bassett Consulting Engineers

Jan Mills FAICD Assistant Secretary Dept of Finance & Administration

Brian Ramsay FAICD Chief Executive Officer Pork Council of Australia

New South Wales

Gary Flowers FAICD Managing Partner Sparke Helmore Pass with Order of Merit

Michael Muston FAICD Manager Muston & Associates Pass with Order of Merit

Derek Bullen FAICD Managing Director Ausfeld Pty Ltd

John Connolly GAICD National Communication Sales AICD

Dianne Day GAICD Consultant-Marketing A Good Day's Work

Roger Gray FAICD Director Business Collaboration ANSTO

Suzanne Hemsworth GAICD Director Sandar Management Services Pty Ltd

David Hughes FAICD Director Jacanda Investments

Chris King FAICD Marketing Director NSW Farmers

Judith MacCormick FAICD Chairman Indonesian Global Advisors

Peter Mayhook FAICD General Manager Retail Sydney

Water George Maltabarow FAICD General Manager Finance & Corporate Secretary Energy Australia

Lisa Mitchell FAICD Manager Customer & Consumer Service Systems Coca-Cola Amatil

Kenneth Parrott FAICD Director Australian Integrated Finance

Ashley Patterson GAICD Managing Director The Patterson Group

Sue Price FAICD Director Balanced Wealth Solutions Pty Ltd

Dennis Sinclair FAICD Managing Director Sinclair Associates

Peter Skewes GAICD Finance & Operations Manager Interface Australia

Kevin Young GAICD Company Secretary/Manager, Corporate Planning & Government Regulation, Hunter Water Corporation

Queensland

John Alexander FAICD Kevin Hendry GAICD

Joanne Keune GAICD International Marketing Manager Academy of Art College, San Francisco

John Negline FAICD Managing Director Complete Business Systems

Anthony Towler GAICD Principal Prosper Consulting

South Australia

Brian Barker FAICD Chief Executive Synergen Pty Ltd

Mark Donovan GAICD Plant Manager Transitions Optical

Ian Gemmell FAICD Principal Gemmell Consultant

Kim Roberts GAICD General Manager Hawthorn Investment Services

Victoria

Daniel Fyfe GAICD State Manager Pacific Waste Management

Emmanuel Gauci GAICD Executive Officer Whitehorse City Council

Jane Gilmour FAICD Executive Director Earthwatch Institute

Paul Irving GAICD General Manager The Fallon Group

Matthew Joyce GAICD Business Manager VEMCO Pty Ltd

David Loutit FAICD Chief Executive Officer Victorian Dairy Industry Authority

Trevor McLean FAICD Managing Director Maps Group

Susan Manson FAICD Director Ninamanima

John O'Brien FAICD General Manager/Director O'Brien Nicholls

Susan Pelka FAICD Head, Strategic Sourcing ANZ Banking Group

John Rimmer FAICD Chairman Acuity Consulting

Michael Thomas GAICD Manager Strategy & Investor Relations AWB

Ian White GAICD General Manager P3 Programs Raytheon Australia

Rod Williams FAICD Secretary Victorian Dairy Industry Authority

Western Australia

Peter Addison GAICD Manager - Regulatory Management Water Corporation

Richard Blair FAICD Gordon Bowe Wilson FAICD Director United Farmers Co-operative

Lynda Daley GAICD Director Summit Resources

John Hewett FAICD Principal JFH Consulting

Disclaimer

The purpose of this database is to provide a full-text record of all articles that have appeared in the CDJ since February 1997. It is aimed to assist in the research and reference process. The database has a full-text index and will enable articles to be easily retrieved.It should be noted that information contained in this database is in pre-publication format only - IT IS NOT THE FINAL PRINTED VERSION OF THE CDJ - therefore there might be slight discrepancies between the contents of this database and the printed CDJ.