News Update

Month: Dec

• Safe harbour for directors in insolvency

  08/12/2015

  One of the proposals announced in the Federal Government’s Innovation Statement is a safe harbour for directors from personal liability for insolvent trading if they appoint a restructuring adviser to develop a turnaround plan for the company. This was recommended by the Productivity Commission, and is part of a package of insolvency law reforms aimed at encouraging Australians to take risks in business, due to a concern that the fear of failure stifles entrepreneurial activity. 

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• Investor guidance on engaging with companies on corporate tax planning

  08/12/2015

  The UN Principles for Responsible Investment has released new guidance for institutional investors on engaging with companies on corporate tax issues — Engagement guidance on corporate tax responsibility: why and how to engage with your investee companies. It covers why investors should have concern about an aggressive corporate tax approach to tax planning; regulatory changes underway globally to facilitate greater scrutiny of tax avoidance and profit shifting; how to identify risks of aggressive corporate tax planning in investment portfolios; and the questions to put to companies in shareholder engagements.

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• New NFP entertainment capping rules

  08/12/2015

  Despite the NFP sector pointing out that salary-packaged entertainment fringe benefits is relied on by the NFP sector to ‘top up’ salaries, which are consistently below those in the for-profit and public sectors, legislation was passed in November to cap them. 

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• Economic impact of charity sector revealed

  08/12/2015

  The Australian Charities Report 2014, produced by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) in collaboration with the Centre for Social Impact and the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW, shows that Australia’s charity sector has a combined income of $103 billion. The first report to analyse the financial information of charities held on the ACNC’s Charities Register, it reveals the enormous economic significance of the sector.

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