The COVID-19 pandemic has led to some countries, including Australia, enacting temporary changes to their corporate laws to allow virtual meetings of shareholders to be conducted. The purpose of this article is to identify and evaluate the corporate governance arguments arising with a move to...

The concept of carrying on business in Australia appears frequently in Australian legislation and can have significant implications for those whose activities fall within its parameters. The purpose of this research note is twofold. The first is to explain why the concept of carrying on business...

Phoenix activity occurs where the business of a failed company is transferred to a second (typically newly incorporated) company and the second company's controllers are the same as the first company's controllers. Phoenix activity can be legal as well as illegal. Phoenix activity has become a...

This paper traces the development of company law during the colonial era in British Malaya, providing details on the laws of the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States. It also presents an account of economic development and the use of the limited liability company form in these two...

The regulation of payday lending in Australia has recently been reformed. The reforms followed a highly charged and polarised debate between the conflicting interests of consumer and welfare advocates — who argued for increased protection for payday loan borrowers — and the payday loan...

Debt collection activity is expected to rise significantly in 2021, as financial hardship becomes more prevalent due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer advocates have warned of an impending “avalanche in debt collection” and have called for better enforcement of laws...

One of the more significant debates in company law concerns the extent to which the interests of creditors should form a part of company law. In recent years, companies, courts and regulators have had to address this issue. Yet there is generally insufficient appreciation of the fact that...

A current securities regulation issue concerns the incorporation, by reference, of documents into prospectuses. The Australian federal government and the Australian Securities Commission have each advanced proposals dealing with this issue. The two proposals are outlined and then a series of...

This study investigates whether Australian superannuation funds and other institutional investors are concerned with the human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations (IR) practices of companies. It examines whether they use indicators of HRM or IR practices in their investment...

It is well established in a number of Commonwealth jurisdictions that company directors are subject to a duty to consider the interests of creditors as the company nears insolvency. The precise contours of this duty are, however, indeterminate. Particular questions surround when the duty arises...