Today’s New York Times published another in a string of articles highlighting safety issues on the Deepwater Horizon rig at the heart of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis. A confidential survey of workers on the Deepwater Horizon in the weeks before the oil rig exploded showed that many of them were concerned about …
Starting a Business/
Business Laws & Ethics
Will beneficial ownership registers spread around the World?
Governments have become more and more focused on the risks posed by opaque and confidential corporate structures. In particular the ability of a certain type of person to use such structures to hide the true ownership and origin of funds, thereby facilitating tax evasion and money laundering. Most bodies set up to tackle these issues …
Making the leap - from entreprenuerial to corporate
Jeff Jarvis’ latest book ‘What Would Google Do’ envisions the ways in which running businesses the way Google is run would change industries. It is impossible to read this book without having a few innovative ideas of your own. It got me thinking ‘What would Google do if they regulated boards or designed corporate governance …
There are many attempts to define ethical standards for company directors. It would be foolish to argue that there should not be an ethical standard or even that an ethical standard is as important as a competency standard. The problem is with identifying a suitable standard before making a board appointment. Whilst many boards have …
As BP continues to be in the spotlight, with every business practice being scrutinized, we can learn some lessons on how ethical companies balance safety and costs. Ethical Culture There is nothing inherently “ethical” about balancing safety and costs. Few programs, even government projects, can reduce safety risks down to zero. The key factor is …
The British Financial Reporting Council has just released an updated version of the corporate governance code. The new Code recommends “in the interests of greater accountability”, that all directors of FTSE 350 companies shoulder-elected by the shareholders each year at the AGM. As with all other provisions of the Code, companies are free to explain …
One of the most vexed issues when talking to people who aspire to company directorship is the simple question, ‘What does it take to be a director?’ There are few satisfactory responses. There are courses (some of which are very good and comprehensive) but none of these are accepted as proof that an aspiring director …
