Do We Need Public Enforcement for Breach of Duties of Company Directors Under the Companies Act 2006?

In 2007 the Companies Act 2006 was introduced in the UK.This came with the codification of the common law directors" duties.Private enforcement is being used to enforce breaches of directors" duties in the UK but has not been that effective.There is indirect public enforcement using directors" disqualification to hold directors accountable for their conduct.Directors" disqualification regime has its challenges.A number of practitioners, academics and the government reports have expressed concerns as to how private enforcement of breaches of directors has been ineffective.In the alternative, there have been calls for public enforcement of directors" duties in the UK.The dissertation explores the strengths in the arguments for public enforcement for breaches of directors" duties and how it can complement private enforcement of directors" duties.Australia has had public enforcement of directors" duties for over two decades now.Australia has a public body responsible for enforcing breaches of directors" duties.Australian public enforcement of directors" duties permits using civil penalties and criminal penalties to be imposed on directors when there is a breach.Criminal penalties are likely not to be adopted in the UK, so the focus of this dissertation is on the civil penalties regime.Following the examination of the Australian model of public enforcement of directors" duties, the dissertation advocates that the civil penalty regime should be considered in the UK.3.3.1 Civil Penalties……………………………………………………………… 34 3.3.2Criminal Penalties………………………………………………………… 35 3.4 Advantages of the Civil Penalties…………………………………………… 37 3.5 Problems with the Civil Penalty regime…………………………………….. 38 Chapter 4 4.1 Arguments for Public Enforcement of Directors" Duties………………….41 4.2 Arguments against Public Enforcement of Directors" Duties…………….46 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………… 51 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..