Reference no: EM132297562

Part A: Assignment for Monitor Corporate Governance

You are being consulted by ABC Importers Limited, as they have just become incorporated and are wanting your advice as to the areas of corporate governance that are concerning to them as a listed company. The directors, John Patrick and Alan Jacobs are new to their positions and are curious to the responsibility and liabilities that are associated to the positions and what they need to consider for compliance purposes.

Company Back Ground

The organisation began as a partnership 5 years ago purchasing white goods and kitchen appliances locally and now imports these products from Bangladesh, wholesaling them to customers like Myer and Harvey Norman along with other independent white goods stores. The Company has gathered a good reputation in supply chain management with its customers.

The supply chain function
The supply chain is the most efficient part of the business.
From inception, the Company has expanded rapidly and now is listed on the stock exchange. Due to the rapid expansion, there have been no formal processes documented. The factory manager, Sue Jones, is a family relative of John Patrick. She oversees the factory workers with receiving and supplying the orders and is confident of the process she has communicated with the team, though some complaints have
recently surfaced that Sue has just ignored.

The business is considering a smaller sized factory as there doesn't seem the need for all the space and Sue doesn't have time to explore this as she runs her own business on the side (in between work hours), and has instead decided to offer a personal commercial property she owns for ABC Importers Limited to rent from her. It's been a vacant property for three (3) years due to a market downturn, so she thinks this will do the job and John Patrick has approved the site without consultation with Alan Jacobs.

program, so undertakes manual book-keeping. Jemma has an assistant who is her sister and as she is a hairdresser, she doesn't understand accounting software but wanted a career change, so Jemma found her a job working with her, as she knew she couldn't work for anybody else in case they "challenged her" or knew more than she did. After all this is her first 'real' career break. In between nail appointments and lunch dates with her girlfriends, Jemma and her sister, don't have time to file. There are piles of papers and records stored in a spare office that hasn't been cleared for months and all suppliers get paid on time (sometimes bonus payments if they deliver products on time) as Jemma needs the incentives to fund her lifestyle.

The reports that come out of the accounts department are basic, Alan Jacobs would like more information to make decisions for future Board meetings as these need to be reported on and wants to ensure that Directors are aware of cash forecasting, the status of the accounts, etc for solvency purposes.

The company has managed to grow rapidly from the family network and is moving into w wor acs logistics roles. John and Alan are looking for the business to expand to the European market, so they would like your help to establish controls that ensure that this can happen.

Other incidents

At the office Christmas party two years ago, there was an incident where one of the new staff members, a young woman, was very distressed saying that one of the warehouse staff members had touch her inappropriately. The incident was dismissed as just a bit of hanky-panky at the Christmas party. The person who was the accused (Peter, Sue's brother) had been involved in another incident where inappropriate comments had that the organisation is a listed company , what other legislation requirements are required. Be sure as to include how the system will be monitored, and review

Any organisation is subject to legal requirements, and may suffer heavy penalties where these requirements are not complied with. From your assessment of the case above select any one of the legislations below (that you have not researched and presented on), that you feel ABC Importers Limited would be at risk of non-compliance and write a paragraph describing the purpose of the legislation and how it is that ABC Importers Limited is at risk, some suggestions are following;

1. New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (`the GST Act')
2. income Tax Assessment Act 1997
3. Corporations Act 1989
4. Workplace Relation Act 1996
5. Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993
6. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010
7. Sex Discrimination Act 1984
8. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 9, Whistleblowers Act
10. Privacy Act 1988
11. Commonwealth Work Health & Safety Act 2011
12. Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006

John and Alan are thinking that if expansion plans into Europe is successful -What due diligence should they consider and discuss at the next Board meeting?

Explain your answer to demonstrate you Corporate Governance knowledge.

Attachment:- Monitor Corporate Governance.rar