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Wednesday, August 1, 1973
Particulars of the emoluments of directors and highly paid
employees should not have to be disclosed, but the aggregate amount of
the directors' emoluments must be stated in the annual accounts.
By a majority, the Committee recommends that the amount of
shares in which each director is interested at the beginning and end of the year need not be disclosed in the annual accounts.
The Committee further proposes that company directors should
not be able to issue shares without the prior approval of the company.
Such approval may, however, be given annually in the form of a general mandate.
It also recommends that the issue of shares of no par value
should be allowed. Such shares would, it says, cause less confusion than
shares of nominal amount.
It is also proposed that the Registrar of Companies should maintain
a card index of all directors to facilitate shareholders in finding out
what other directorships their company directors hold.
Hundreds of other recommendations are made covering the whole
field of company law. Among them are recommendations dealing with control
of company names, lost share certificates, directors' reports, powers of inspectors appointed to investigate a company's affairs, appointment of auditors,
priority of Crown debts in liquidations, particulars to be filed by oversea companies, and numbers of partners in partnerships.
In conclusion, the report calls for the setting up of a standing
committee to advise on amendments required to the Companies Ordinance as
and when experience has shown them to be necessary.
The report is available for sale from the Government Publications Centre, Star Ferry concourse, Hong Kong, at $28 per copy.
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