This article presents some of the feedback garnered as part of the authors' research project into the Independence and the Governance of Superannuation Funds in the context of the Australian Prudential and Regulation Authority's (APRA) recent findings from its thematic review of superannuation...

In 2006, Christopher Dale leaked information about Clayton Utz's internal investigation into the events surrounding the destruction of documents that would have been relevant and damaging to their client, British American Tobacco, in the 2002 McCabe litigation. This article uses this case study...

The independent director is hailed as a tool to monitor and improve corporate management and decision making. This role is premised on the belief that directors who are independent of a corporation can be faithful guardians of its interests. However, powerful group influences can sully this...

One of the standard regulatory reactions to troubling events in the corporate world — such as the collapse of one of Australia's largest insurers, HIH, the Enron failure in the US, and the Polly Peck accounting scandal in the UK — has been regulation that mandates formally independent...

The advice provided by lawyers in large law firms to their large commercial and government clients has a significant effect on perceptions of the fairness of the legal system and the social responsibility of large corporations and government bodies. It is likely that this advice is shaped in...

One of the standard regulatory reactions to troubling events in the corporate world -- such as the collapse of one of Australia’s largest insurers, HIH, the Enron failure in the US, and the Polly Peck accounting scandal in the UK -- has been regulation that mandates formally independent...

Investment markets have been volatile in recent times and the investment practices of super fund trustees are coming under increasing scrutiny. The law requires that trustees exercise the care and skill of a prudent person in the exercise of their investment powers, and that they formulate an...

One of the primary objectives of the regulatory regime governing superannuation funds is to safeguard the interests of members. However members are implicitly characterized in different ways in different parts of the regulatory regime. This causes inconsistencies in the way different parts of...

Over the past five years, the Australian superannuation system has been subject to a programme of policy and regulatory change of considerable scope and ambition: the Stronger Super initiatives. This article presents the findings of qualitative research undertaken with the fund executives on...