The Role of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the US federal agency that holds the primary mandate to enforce federal securities laws and regulations to control the securities industry and the country’s stock exchange and regulation of all activities and organizations including the US electronic securities market. The SEC is committed to promoting a market environment that yields public trust characterized by integrity to attain its mission of protecting investors through maintenance of fair and efficient markets through facilitation of capital information (Basagne, 2010). The SEC financing is a major area of focus since there has been major concern regarding the SEC agency financing and whether they utilize the

The Securities and Exchange Commission has the mission of protecting investors by maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets. The SEC does this in a number of ways, and firms need to pay attention to these ways in order to ensure SEC compliance. The SEC has enforcement authority over a number of areas related to the nation's capital markets, including insider trading, accounting fraud, and providing false information. The SEC's jurisdiction extends to all securities that are traded publicly. Privately-held companies do not need to register with the SEC (SEC.gov, 2012).

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 was passed by congress to strengthen the government’s control of the financial markets. It was preceded by the Securities Exchange Act of 1933 which was enacted during the Great Depression in hopes that the stock market crash of 1929 would not be repeated. The basic difference between the two acts was that the 1933 Act was to govern the original sales of securities by requiring that the issuers, the companies offering the securities, offer up sufficient information about themselves and the securities so that the potential buyers could make informed decisions. The 1934 Act was

The AS 4000 contract was developed through the joint Standards Australia & Standards New Zealand Committee OB/3. The contract was developed as a result of a consensus to push for the contract to become an Australian Standard. Organizations that were approached in the development of the contract were:

In order to ensure effective regulation, the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation contains eleven sections that describe responsibilities of corporate boards (Engel, Hayes, & Wang, 2007). In case these responsibilities are not performed, criminal penalties are applied. The need for stricter financial governance laws created the global trend and such countries as Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Israel, Turkey and others also enacted the same type of regulations (Damianides, 2005). Today, the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation continues to play a fundamental role in the process of protecting the rights of investors and supporting a high level of investment attractiveness of the United States and companies that operate in the country. That is why this particular legislation can be considered as extremely benefiting for the national economy as well as investors.

S718 states that a disclosure document to be used for an offer of securities must be lodged with ASIC.

7. The certificate of registration issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is valid:

Farrar, J. (2008). Corporate Governance: theories, principles and practice. 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press

The transition office has also established transition plans which will guide the new regulator with its anticipated regulatory approach, through its governance structure, organization design and implementation. Additional information provided by Department of Finance of Canada furthermore explained that once favorable ruling received from the Supreme Court of Canada, the government of Canada will introduce the securities act to parliamentary legislative process.

The Securities Act of 1933 was enacted as a result of the market crash of 1929 (). It was the first major piece of federal legislation to apply to the sale of securities. The legislation was enacted as the need for more information within and about the securities markets was acknowledged. Prior to 1933, regulation

The Australian financial system evolved in five stages. The first stage was the introduction of financial institutions during the early colonial period in the 19th Century, where the influence of British institutions was a key driving force. The end of that period was marked by the 1890s depression which saw a major rationalisation of Australia’s financial institutions. The start of the modern era of financial regulation can be traced back to the introduction of banking legislation in 1945 and the establishment of Australia’s first central bank.

How the latest edition (3rd) of the ASX Corporate Governance Principles plausibly halts the failure of Dick Smith Electronics will be discussed in this essay. I argue that ASX Corporate Governance Principles is one of the corporate governance practices that many listed entities in Australia should comply with in order to achieve good corporate governance preventing the collapse of corporations and increasing investors’ confidence. Regarding Dick Smith Electronics as a listed entity, it would survive and continuously operate as a biggest Australia electronic retailer if the better application of this practice is fully adopted.

The ASX Corporate Governance Council defines the ‘corporate governance’ as the framework of rules, relationships, systems and processes within and by which authority is exercised and controlled within corporations (Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations, 2014). The term “failure” of a corporate can be described as “Insolvency” in Australia (Michaela Rankin, 2012). And the reasons for corporate failure can be grouped into six categories: 1. Poor strategic decisions. 2. Greed and the desire for power. 3. Overexpansion and ill-judged acquisitions. 4. Dominant CEOs. 5. Failure of internal controls 6. Ineffective boards(Michaela Rankin, 2012).

The Australian Security and Investments Commission (ASIC), is an independent government body that acts as Australia’s corporate regulator. The organisation is responsible for regulating Australian companies, financial markets, financial services organisations, and professionals working in investment, superannuation, insurance, deposit taking, and credit . ASIC administers a number of laws, most notably the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act and the Corporations Act , from which it derives the majority of its powers. According to the ASIC Act the organisation should strive to improve the performance of the financial system, promote the confident participation of investors and consumers within that system, and administers the laws that authorise its functions and powers effectively and with the least possible procedural requirements . However ASIC achieves only partial success in fulfilling its organisational goals, and thus only fulfils its role in society to a limited extent. For example, ASIC was slow and unproductive in handling allegations of fraud and incompetence amongst financial planning advisers working for the Commonwealth (CBA). Although ASIC was able to identify negligent parties, the processes of ASIC’s investigation were long-drawn-out and enforcement action did not adequately account for the scope of misconduct suggested by their investigation. Situations such as this indicate ASIC’s inability to work effectively as a corporate regulator.

Securities regulations began when Congress enacted the Securities Act of 1933 in reaction to the 1929 Stock Market Crash—the infamous start of the Great Depression. The legislature created the 1933 Act to safeguard the economy from experiencing another event like the Great Depression. The objective of the Securities Act of 1933 was to “require that investors receive financial and other significant information concerning securities being offered for public sale; and prohibit deceit, misrepresentations, and other fraud in the sale of securities.” In other words, the Securities Act of 1933 required issuers to fully disclose all material information that a reasonable shareholder would require in order to make up his or her mind about a potential investment. The Act focuses on governing offerings by issuers and creating transparency between issuers and investors so that investors receive more protection than prior to the Act.