The Director's Handbook, first published in 2005, filled a gap in the market by providing a practical guide to key issues facing board directors and senior business decision-makers in the UK. Now, with far-reaching changes in directors' duties and other principles of company law, this new edition updates and explains the laws which affect the way every director does their job. It deals with all aspects of a company director's role, duties, responsibilities and liabilities within the context of the current law and good practice. Written by leading experts and fully supported by research findings, this 3rd edition also contains case studies from companies of varying sizes and sectors, plus new chapters on the role of the company secretary plus the latest legal developments in the health and safety arena. The Director's Handbook is the essential reference and source of advice for all new and existing directors, as well as those who aspire to this position.

"This work covers the most important aspects of a director's duties and responsibilities." --p. ix.

It has never been more important for directors and management to have a clear understanding of directors' duties. Not only do we have a new, empowered, regulator in the form of the Financial Markets Authority, but the Courts are generating new case law, in the wake of the global financial crisis and finance company failures. This new edition of Duties and Responsibilities of Directors and Company Secretaries in New Zealand sets out in a clear and concise manner the duties imposed by law on directors and includes new commentary on the evolution of the interpretation by the courts and the regulators of these matters. Comprehensive indexes, cases and statute tables ensure relevant information is easily located.

This timely work is the first to comprehensively examine directors' responsibilities to creditors in times of financial strife, as well as addressing when these responsibilities arise, and what directors should have to do to ensure that they comply with their obligations. Keay explores the relevant issues from doctrinal, normative and comparative perspectives and addresses the question as to when directors are liable for wrongful trading, fraudulent trading or breach of their duties to creditors and whether directors should be held responsible for the before mentioned. Besides the relevant UK legislation and case law, legislation and case law from Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United States are examined and compared and reforms which take into account the aims and rationale of the relevant legislation as well as creditors' interests are proposed and assessed. Importantly, new approaches for courts which would make the nature of the responsibility and its timing more precise are suggested. Company directors have certain responsibilities to creditors of their companies. In particular, they should avoid fraudulent and wrongful trading and consider, as part of their duties, the interests of creditors when their companies might be, or are, in financial difficulty. The work is precipitated by the lack of coherence in the consideration of wrongful trading and the recent delivery of important cases on fraudulent trading. Also, this timely work is the first to comprehensively examine directors' responsibilities to creditors in times of financial strife, as well as addressing when these responsibilities arise, and what directors should have to do to ensure that they comply with their obligations. Keay explores the relevant issues from doctrinal, normative and comparative perspectives and seeks to address the question as to when directors are liable for wrongful trading, fraudulent trading or breach of their duties to creditors and whether directors should be held responsible for wrongful trading and failing to consider the interests of creditors. Besides the relevant UK legislation and case law, legislation and case law from Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United States are examined and compared, and reforms which take into account the aims and rationale of the relevant legislation as well as creditors' interests are proposed and assessed. Importantly, new approaches for courts which would make the nature of the responsibility and its timing more precise are suggested.

"The Director's Handbook is published by the Institute of Directors (IoD) in association with law firm Pinsent Masons. It is not a legal text book; it is a practical resource for those who run companies and need to understand the ever-changing legal and regulatory environment in which they operate. All companies - large or small, public or private - and many other organisations too, will find it useful."--BOOK JACKET.

Boards of directors are coming under increasing scrutiny in terms of their contribution in monitoring and controlling management, particularly in the wake of high-profile corporate frauds and failures, and also their potential to add value to organizational performance through involvement in the strategy process and through building relationships with key investors. Despite the importance of these issues, not only to organizations but also arguably to national competitiveness, the nature of board activity remains largely a black box, clouded by prescriptions, prejudices, and half-truths. This book responds to calls for greater scrutiny of boards of directors with an in-depth examination of directors of UK organizations, drawing on the accounts of directors themselves as to their roles, influence, and the potential and limits to their power. Much work on boards of directors has labelled the board as a rubber stamp for dominant management, and non-executive directors in particular have been variously described as poodles, pet rocks, or parsley on the fish. Such accounts are rooted in assumptions of board activity that are essentially adversarial in nature, and that the solution to the 'problem' of reconciling the interests of managers with those of shareholders is to increase the checks and balances available to the board of directors. The findings of this study show that boards, in many cases, are far more than passive rubber stamps for management and that non-executives are encouraged to act as trusted advisers to the executives and the chief executive, rather than solely monitors of executive activity. Boards are important mechanisms in maintaining the strategic framework of the organization through setting the boundaries of organizational activity. The potential of the board members, in particular the non-executives, to fulfil such a mandate depends on a number of factors, including ability, willingness to engage with the organizational issues, and the degree of knowledge they have relevant to the host firm. Above all, the degree of trust built between members of the board, and between the board and key external constituencies, is at the heart of effective board behaviour.