Good Governance!

It can often seem that the burden of legal compliance for directors is getting heavier and heavier.

The Companies Act 2006 introduced, for the first time, a statutory codification of the duties which directors owe to the companies to which they are appointed. One of these duties is that a director must act in the way he considers, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole. In doing so, he must consider, amongst other matters:

• the likely consequences of any decision in the long term;
• the interests of the company's employees; and
• the impact of the company's operations on the community and the environment.