Corporate Theory and Corporate Law Reform in Australia

Australian corporate law has been the subject of significant reform. This includes: (a) increased duties imposed upon company directors; (b) regulation of transactions between public companies and their related parties; (c) increased disclosure requirements for public companies; (d) new liability upon parent companies where a subsidiary trades while it is insolvent; and (e) a wider definition of insider trading. In this paper, the author evaluates some of these reforms in the light of theories of the corporation - particularly the managerialist (or institutionalist theory) and the contractual theory. The author also discusses the costs associated with some of the reforms