Statutory audit, an integral part of the corporate governance structure today is of relatively recent origin, mandated only in 1900 CE. Prior to this, audit of a company’s accounts was discretionary, triggered by the need of promoters to enhance their credibility required while raise money or reassuring investors about financial mismanagement concerns or when [...]
In 1869 CE, the Mining Companies Limited Liability Act was passed by the Victorian government in Australia. This act enabled companies to forfeit the shares of shareholders who failed to pay the calls made on their shares. This was a critical concept introduced to protect the interest of shareholders who paid the calls made [...]
I. Facts of the Case: Mr. Thomas Sutton, one of the richest citizens of England, a coal miner and money lender by profession set up a corporation in London chartered by English King for the establishment of a hospital and a free grammar school for charity among others such initiatives. Unfortunately, he died before the [...]
The concept of Independent Directors (IDs) on Corporate Boards is a novel concept that evolved in the mutual funds industry in 1940s and entered the corporate world only in 1990s. Considered lesser of the two evils, IDs were taken on the Corporate Board to strengthen corporate governance. Despite being the holy cow of corporate [...]
Context: Voting as a desired decision making method in groups is unquestioned today. The right of all participants to have a say in the decision is based on the belief collective wisdom is superior to individual intelligence. However there are variations in voting system that can significantly alter this basic premise of superior collective [...]
Private companies emerged pretty late in the five hundred year evolution path of joint stock companies, with legal recognition being granted to them only in 1892 in Germany, 1908 in England and 1925 in France. Private Limited Companies are a hybrid for they combine the merits of privacy found in partnership firms with the [...]
Context: Preference shares is a financial instrument that answers a specific need of companies trying to raise finance but cannot or does not want to do it in the conventional way. The conventional method for a company to raise finance is by issuing equity shares that requires the investor to participate in the risk-reward [...]
April 24, 2020 Summary of the circular issued by SEBI on 23/04/2020 SEBI extends deadline for top 100 Listed Entities by market capitalization whose Financial Year (FY) ended on 31/12/2019 for holding Annual General Meetings (AGMs) to September 2020 In line with the MCA Circular No. 18/2020 dated 21/04/2020 extending due [...]
April 22, 2020 Summary of the circular issued by MCA on 21/04/2020 MCA extends deadline to Companies whose Financial Year (FY) ended on 31/12/2019 for holding Annual General Meetings (AGMs) by 3 months to September 2020 In line with the various relaxations provided by MCA due to CoVID-19 pandemic, it has now extended the [...]
Papers out, files in; replacement of hard copies with softcopies is a significant and necessary fallout of work from home. For company secretaries responsible for maintaining secretarial records, it is a critical choice, since a legally valid document is the only evidence of corporate decisions. Given its criticality, Rule 27 and [...]
