Law of Business Associations Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Law of Business Associations - Coursework Example This research will begin with the statement that the question concerning the scope, form, and content of directors' duties is a long-standing problem in company law and corporate governance. The issue has proved to be one of the most challenging to solve. For a long time, the duties of directors have been derived from the common law, equitable principles, and legal provisions, mainly the company’s act 1985. According to Foster, some scholars believe that directors play a small role in smooth running of a company. Instead, the board is responsible for their company’s success. However, this is wrong in that both the boards and the directors them self plays a significant role in company’s success. Failure for any of them to perform as expected can lead to collapse of an organization. Although company law has been in existence for a very long time, the Companies Act 2006 received Royal Consent on year 2006. This review of company law was the biggest review of United Kingdom Company raw for a period of 40 years. The review project included a three year detailed investigation by government appointed party, a detailed research on the specific issue by the law commission of England, Wales, and Scotland, and an extensive public consultation on a number of technical issues. The act contained 1,300 sections and 16 schedules. The government will issue more material as regulations made under the act. The Act introduced a new legal right for shareholders to charge their directors in the company’s name.... The act has enabled company auditor to negotiate liability limitation with their customer among many other. In the need to modernize united kingdom company‘s law, two key issues were considered. First, should the law expect from the company any wider social responsibility, or should they be left alone to peruse the objective of making maximum profit for its shareholders. Secondly, should any legislation be more specific about the duties of companies’ directors. The changes made between this two areas, now form the basis for how the company and the outside world expects the director to operate and account for their action. Since the act center around the duties of directors to their companies, it therefore becomes very important to have a clear understanding of who is a director. A company’s director is the person to whom the laws look upon; to run the affairs of a company on behalf of its owners (Martin S.2005). A company is required to have at least one director. Conversely, a public company must have a minimum of two. This is because companies- artificial legal persons- cannot act for themselves- they need to act through other persons. This also applies to private companies that have one or two shareholders. The company must still give at least one director even where an individual is both a shareholder and a director. In such circumstances, the law will still see a technical distinction between the interest of the shareholders company owners and the company directors as the ultimate decision makers on behalf of the company. According to the act, all limited company should have a director. Bearing in mind that a company’s director is one who regularly makes most of the decisions relating to the company, it