About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

7 Macquarie J. Bus. L. 1 (2010)

handle is hein.journals/macqjbul7 and id is 1 raw text is: MqJBL (2010) Vol 7 DIRECTORS AND THE ETHICS COMPONENTS OF THEIR DUTIES MINH NGUYET DANG* AND BARBARA MESCHER* This article examines the duties of directors of public companies and specifically studies the ethical components of those duties. Most directors are well aware of their legal duties and that the source of these duties is found in the Corporations Act, in particular sections 180-184. In addition, further quasi-duties are expressed in the Australian Stock Exchange (AS) Corporate Governance Principles. This article argues that the black letter law contains within it an ethical foundation and the ASX Principles, especially Principle 3, actively promote ethical decision-making. The purpose of this article is twofold: firstly, to encourage directors to be aware of and focus upon the ethics components of their duties and secondly, to provide an interpretation of these components. An understanding and application of ethical principles within directors' duties will assist directors to avoid the moral hazards of the corporate world. While legal compliance is part of directors' corporate governance, so is integrity. This article applies the principles of virtue ethics with its emphasis on character as a suitable model to promote integrity. The principles of virtue ethics are supported by Kant's rules-based principles with its focus upon the duty of honesty. I INTRODUCTION An understanding and application of ethical principles within directors' duties will assist directors to avoid the moral hazards of the corporate world. Company directors need to be aware that there are ethical components within their responsibilities. The civil and criminal penalties in relation to contraventions by Minh Nguyet Dang, Analyst in Management Consulting & Integrated Markets, Accenture Australia, former Business Law Honours student (2008), University of Sydney. BJuris, LLB, LLM (UNSW), Lecturer, Business Law, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Sydney. barbara.meschersvdney.edu.au I

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most