LL.M. (Commercial Law) / The Companies Act 71 of 2008 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) was passed by Parliament on 19 November 2008 and assented to by the President on 8 April 2009. The Act came into force on 1 May 2011 and contains the provisions regulating the new business rescue proceedings that replace judicial management under the Companies Act 61 of 1973. However, since the introduction of Chapter 6 of the Act, the courts South Africa still appear to be finding their feet with regard to many of the Act’s provisions. In spite of this, the new business rescue practice has become an important part of the South African corporate framework. The outbreak of recent case law has started to shape the direction, which business rescue, as interpreted by the Courts, is taking. An important debate among the courts is whether the courts should rescue a business entity or liquidating the businesses assets in order to settle claims against it. While a liquidation aims to divide the profit from the sale of assets amongst creditors and to dissolve the company, business rescue legislation provides for a restructuring of the financial structure of a distressed debtor to save the business as a going concern and to assist the settlement of claims against the business in full. The business rescue proceedings have been provided for by legislation in the Act, however, the result of the vast recent court decisions show that the Act may not be relied upon unconditionally without proper regard to the circumstances of each case. This research analyses the appropriateness of business rescue as opposed to liquidation by specifically looking at the requirements for a successful business rescue order. This research further analyses whether the decisions of the courts in present case law are on the correct path when interpreting the business recuse provisions in terms of the Act.

Thesis (LLM)--Stellenbosch University, 2015 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The Companies Act 71 of 2008 introduces a completely new system for the regulation of distributions by a company to its shareholders. The preferred method for protecting the interests of creditors in distributions is now based on a solvency and liquidity test. Regrettably, the provisions setting out the requirements for distributions on the one hand and the solvency and liquidity test on the other have been poorly drafted. This thesis first explains and then applies an innovative interpretation theory to these provisions with a view to piecing together coherent content. The thesis finds that creative interpretations will not suffice in various places, meaning that substantive revision is required. The thesis concludes with brief amendment proposals and accompanying commentary. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Die Maatskappywet 71 van 2008 bied ‘n radikaal nuwe sisteem vir die regulering van uitkerings van 'n maatskappy aan sy aandeelhouers. Die voorkeur metode om die belange van skuldeisers in uitkerings te beskerm, is nou op ‘n solvensie- en likwiditeittoets gebaseer. Ongelukkig is die wetlike bepalings wat die vereistes vir uitkerings aan die een kant uiteensit, en die solvensie en likwiditeit toets aan die ander kant, swak opgestel. Hierdie tesis verduidelik eerstens die bepalings, en pas dan 'n innoverende interpretasie teorie op hierdie bepalings toe, met die doel om 'n samehangende inhoud daar te stel. Die tesis bevind dat kreatiewe interpretasies op verskeie plekke nie voldoende sal wees nie. Dit beteken dat substantiewe hersiening noodsaaklik is. Ten slotte bied die tesis kortliks wysigings-voorstelle met meegaande kommentaar.

En grundläggande princip för ett aktiebolag är att aktieägarna inte har något personligt betalningsansvar för bolagets förpliktelser. I syfte att skydda bolagsborgenärerna så finns det i aktiebolagslagen ett flertal kapitalskyddsregler. I 25 kap. ABL finns de så kallade kapitalbristreglerna. Reglerna bygger på att när en kritisk kapitalbrist har uppstått, så ska styrelsen iaktta ett visst handlingsmönster som syftar till att antingen läka kapitalbristen, eller inleda en ordnad avveckling av bolaget. Underlåter bolagets företrädare att vidta de åtgärder som lagen föreskriver så kan dessa personer bli solidariskt medansvariga med bolaget för de förpliktelser som uppkommer därefter. En grundläggande utgångspunkt i syfte att skydda bolagets borgenärer är att den kontrollbalansräkning som handlingsmönstret ålägger bolaget att upprätta ska granskas av bolagets revisor. Syftet med den oberoende granskningen är att förhindra att styrelsen fuskar med kontrollbalansräkningen genom antedatering, eller genom att t.ex. tillämpa felaktiga värderingsprinciper. Efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten 2010 finns det inte längre något krav på granskning för små aktiebolag i Sverige. Detta har påverkat över 350 000 aktiebolag och riskerar att utgöra ett reellt hot mot borgenärsskyddet. Syftet med studien är således att undersöka hur avskaffandet av revisionsplikten har påverkat borgenärsskyddet i kapitalbristlagstiftningen. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys har tillämpats för att besvara studiens syfte. En granskning av myndighetsdokument, offentliga utredningar, förarbeten och lagtexter har genomförts för att få en helhetsbild för det befintliga rättsläget. Vidare har juridisk doktrin och lagkommentarer från auktoritativa parter samt kommentarer från dags- och kvällstidningar granskats i syfte att åskådliggöra eventuella tillkortakommanden med kapitalbristreglerna efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten. Granskningen ligger till grund för den kronologiska genomgång som resultatet bygger på. Våra slutsatser påvisar att kapitalbristreglerna i första hand ämnar att skydda bolagets borgenärer. Det har i lagens förarbeten identifierats meningsskiljaktigheter angående vilka intressenter som faktiskt tillgodoses av revisorsgranskningen som kapitalbristreglerna till stor del lutar sig mot. Studien har också funnit att ett flertal auktoritativa myndigheter såsom Ekobrottsmyndigheten, Riksrevisionen, Brottsförebyggande rådet och Skatteverket har riktat kritik mot avskaffandet av revisionsplikten och dess effekter. Den slopade revisionsplikten kvarstår alltjämt, trots kritiken, vilket tyder på att företagarorganisationerna som stödjer reformen tillsammans utgör ett inflytelserikt intressentkollektiv. Slutligen kan konstateras att avskaffandet av revisionsplikten har försämrat det skydd som borgenärer tidigare åtnjutit genom 25 kap. 13-18 §§ ABL. Då revisorns oberoende granskning utgjort en grundpelare i kapitalbristlagstiftningen så förefaller den befintliga lagen inte vara ändamålsenlig i syfte att skydda ett borgenärskollektiv. / A basic principle for a limited company is that the shareholders have no personal responsibility for the company’s liabilities. In order to protect general creditors the Swedish Companies Act contains several capital protection rules. Chapter 25 in the Swedish Companies Act contains the so-called capital shortage rules. The rules are based on the fact that when a critical capital shortage has arisen, the board must observe a certain pattern of action that aims to either restore the shareholders’ equity, or petition the court for a liquidation order. If the board of directors fails to take the measures prescribed by law, these individuals may become jointly and severally liable for obligations that incur during the period of such failure to act. A fundamental premiss for the purpose of protecting the company’s creditors is that the balance sheet for liquidation purposes needs to be examined by the company’s auditors. The purpose of the auditors examination is to prevent the board from cheating with the balance sheet for liquidation purposes by backdating, or by applying incorrect valuation principles. After the abolition of the audit obligation in 2010, there is no longer any requirement for auditing for small limited companies in Sweden. This has affected more than 350 000 companies and risks being a real threat to the creditor protection. Thus, the purpose of the study is to examine how the abolition of the audit obligation has affected the credit protection in the capital shortage rules. A qualitative content analysis has been applied in order to fulfill the purpose of the study. An examination of government documents, public investigations, preparatory works and legal texts has been carried out in order to identify the existing legal situation. Furthermore, legal doctrine and legal comments from authoritative parties as well as comments from daily and evening newspapers have been examined in order to illustrate eventual shortcoming with the capital shortage rules, after the abolition of the audit obligation. The examination forms the basis of the chronological review on which the result is based on.Our conclusions prove that the capital shortage rules primarily aim to protect the company’s creditors. Disagreements have been identified in the law’s preparatory works regarding which stakeholders that actually are catered by the auditors’ audit on which the capital shortage rules are based on. The study has also found that a number of authoritative authorities such the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, Swedish National Audit Office, Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention and the Swedish Tax Agency have criticized the abolition of the audit obligation and its effects. The abolished audit obligation still remains, despite the criticism, which indicates that the corporate organizations that support the reform, together constitute an influential stakeholder collective. Finally, it can be stated that the abolition of the audit obligation has impaired the protection that creditors previously enjoyed through Chapter 25 sections 13-18 in the Swedish Companies Act. Since the auditor’s unbiased review constituted a cornerstone of the capital shortage rules, the existing law does not appear to be appropriate in order to protect a creditor’s collective. This paper is hereinafter written in Swedish.

Background: The Stop rule for buying in property was introduced through 1976 years legislation and its formemost purpose was to prevent companies to acquire property that was useless for the company. Assets such as cars, boats and arts were of current interest. At the same time as this stop rule was introduced, another stop rule was also introduced and this was meant to work to forbid the partner to buy property from the close company to a price that would lead to sell at loss for the company. After a government decision (1999:2000, Abolished Stop rules) the close company is no longer living under this restriction since these two stop rules have been abolished since January 2001. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate which criteria are the basis to judge whether the assets is to consider as useful or not for the close company. We also intend to investigate if the partners will use the situation that the two stop rules have been abolished. Accomplishment: In this thesis our primary data consists of interviews with in all ten persons from nine different companies; three with auditors from Ernst & Young, KPMG and Skarin & Brindelid, two with tax lawyers; one at the Tax Authorities and one with the director of studies at the Juridical Institution at Linköping University, one tax consultant at Ernst & Young and one tax auditor at the Tax Authorities in Norrköping. We also interviewed the administrative director of the Accounting Committee. Finally we interviewed two bank clerks at SEB and Föreningssparbanken. Result: To decide whether an asset is useful it has shown that it is hard to draw a clear boundary for what should be seen as useful or not. From the literature and the interviews we have been able to stipulate the following criteria for a useless asset; 1. it does not generate profit in the company, 2. it does not lead to future cash flows, 3. it is exclusively referred to the partners private use and the cost for it cannot be carried by the company in the long-term and because of that, the liquid capital in the company will be jeopardized. 4. it is exclusively reffered to the partner´s private use and the partner has not been imposed tax for it. The auditors and the bank clerks think that if a property has been bought by the close company it should be seen as an asset. The tax lawyers and the tax auditor, on the other hand, think that such property is to be seen as private. This boundary problem is based on the fact that Civil law and Tax Law are far away from each other.

<p>Den som vill bedriva näringsverksamhet i Sverige kan välja mellan olika bolagsformer, däribland enskild firma, handelsbolag eller aktiebolag. Det finns två typer av aktiebolag, privata och publika, de regleras av bestämmelserna i aktiebolagslagen och aktiebolagsförordningen. Bestämmelserna i dessa författningar härstammar till viss del från de bolagsrättsliga direktiv som EU har beslutat ska gälla inom unionen.</p><p>Det sker ständiga förändringar på bolagsrättens område, både avseende de gemenskapsrättsliga reglerna från EU och de nationella bestämmelserna i Sverige. Europeiska kommissionen har ansett det som nödvändigt att även se över samtliga bolagsdirektiv för att underlätta det administrativa arbete som åligger, framförallt, mindre bolag inom unionen. Kommissionen ansåg även i samma utredning det angeläget att varje medlemsstat såg över deras nationella regelverk för att minska den administrativa bördan för små bolag.</p><p>Sveriges regering utfärdade i september 2007 ett direktiv till syfte att minska den administrativa bördan och skapa enklare regler för små privata aktiebolag. Utredningens resultat var färdigt i april 2009 och presenterades i SOU 2009:34. Resultatet av utredningen omfattar flertalet förändringar vad gäller såväl aktiebolagslagen som aktiebolagsförordningen. Det är målsättningen regeringen hade med utredningen och de förenklingar som föreslås som är föremål för denna uppsats. Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera tre av förändringarna och förenklingarna. De tre områden som kommer att behandlas i denna uppsats är bolagets bildande, aktiebrev och aktiebok samt bolagets organisation. Uppsatsen kommer att utgå ifrån den målsättning regeringen hade när de tillsatte en utredning nämligen att minska små privata aktiebolags administrativa bördor och kostnader, att få ekonomisk tillväxt och ökad sysselsättning samt att de förenklingar som föreslås inte får sänka skyddet för borgenärer, arbetet mot ekonomisk brottslighet eller skattekontroll.</p><p>De slutsatser som presenteras i denna uppsats är att förenklingarna som utredningen har föreslagit uppfyller den målsättning som regeringen hade när de tillsatte en utredare. Enligt författarens mening finns det dock vissa andra områden som utredaren kunde ha undersökt då det finns en tydlig problematik avseende bland annat möjligheter till utträde ur ett privat aktiebolag. Det ska även nämnas att utredningen enbart behandlar de bolagsrättsliga reglerna, det finns andra regler som kan vara av intresse att utreda, till exempel skatteregler för privata aktiebolag.</p> / <p>A person who wants to run business in Sweden can choose between different types of associations, including sole trading, partnerships or limited liability companies. There are two types of limited liability companies in Sweden, private and public, which are governed by the provisions of the Companies Act and the Companies ordinance. Parts of the provisions in these two regulations are derived from directives on corporate law that the EU has decided shall apply in the union.</p><p>There are constant changes in corporate law regarding both the legal provisions from the EU and due to changes in the national legislation in Sweden. The European Commission has considered it necessary to review all corporate law directives in order to ease the administrative work for, in particular, smaller companies within the Union. The Commission also indicated in the same decision that it is necessary for each member state to review and reduce the administrative burden for small companies due to the national legislation.</p><p>The Swedish Government issued a directive in September 2007 with the aim to reduce the administrative burden and to create simpler rules for small private limited liability companies. The result of the directive was completed in April 2009 and was presented in SOU 2009:34. The investigations result included several changes both to the Swedish Companies Act and Companies Ordinance. It is the purpose that the Government had when they appointed an investigation that is the subject of this thesis. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze three of the changes that the investigation has presented. The three changes that will be subject to this thesis is the establishment of a company, the share certificates and share register and companies organization. The thesis will be based on three goals that the government had when they set up an investigation, to reduce the administrative burden and cost for small private limited liability companies, to establish economic growth and increase employment and finally not to reduce the protection for creditors and the work against economic crime.</p><p>The conclusion presented in this thesis is that the simplifications that the investigation had as purpose to fulfil, partially meets the goal the Government had. According to the author's opinion there are some areas that the investigation could have reviewed, such as the possibility for a shareholder to sell the shares in a private limited liability company.</p>

<p>Background: The Stop rule for buying in property was introduced through 1976 years legislation and its formemost purpose was to prevent companies to acquire property that was useless for the company. Assets such as cars, boats and arts were of current interest. At the same time as this stop rule was introduced, another stop rule was also introduced and this was meant to work to forbid the partner to buy property from the close company to a price that would lead to sell at loss for the company. After a government decision (1999:2000, Abolished Stop rules) the close company is no longer living under this restriction since these two stop rules have been abolished since January 2001. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate which criteria are the basis to judge whether the assets is to consider as useful or not for the close company. We also intend to investigate if the partners will use the situation that the two stop rules have been abolished. </p><p>Accomplishment: In this thesis our primary data consists of interviews with in all ten persons from nine different companies; three with auditors from Ernst & Young, KPMG and Skarin & Brindelid, two with tax lawyers; one at the Tax Authorities and one with the director of studies at the Juridical Institution at Linköping University, one tax consultant at Ernst & Young and one tax auditor at the Tax Authorities in Norrköping. We also interviewed the administrative director of the Accounting Committee. Finally we interviewed two bank clerks at SEB and Föreningssparbanken. </p><p>Result: To decide whether an asset is useful it has shown that it is hard to draw a clear boundary for what should be seen as useful or not. From the literature and the interviews we have been able to stipulate the following criteria for a useless asset; 1. it does not generate profit in the company, 2. it does not lead to future cash flows, 3. it is exclusively referred to the partners private use and the cost for it cannot be carried by the company in the long-term and because of that, the liquid capital in the company will be jeopardized. 4. it is exclusively reffered to the partner´s private use and the partner has not been imposed tax for it. The auditors and the bank clerks think that if a property has been bought by the close company it should be seen as an asset. The tax lawyers and the tax auditor, on the other hand, think that such property is to be seen as private. This boundary problem is based on the fact that Civil law and Tax Law are far away from each other.</p>

Den som vill bedriva näringsverksamhet i Sverige kan välja mellan olika bolagsformer, däribland enskild firma, handelsbolag eller aktiebolag. Det finns två typer av aktiebolag, privata och publika, de regleras av bestämmelserna i aktiebolagslagen och aktiebolagsförordningen. Bestämmelserna i dessa författningar härstammar till viss del från de bolagsrättsliga direktiv som EU har beslutat ska gälla inom unionen. Det sker ständiga förändringar på bolagsrättens område, både avseende de gemenskapsrättsliga reglerna från EU och de nationella bestämmelserna i Sverige. Europeiska kommissionen har ansett det som nödvändigt att även se över samtliga bolagsdirektiv för att underlätta det administrativa arbete som åligger, framförallt, mindre bolag inom unionen. Kommissionen ansåg även i samma utredning det angeläget att varje medlemsstat såg över deras nationella regelverk för att minska den administrativa bördan för små bolag. Sveriges regering utfärdade i september 2007 ett direktiv till syfte att minska den administrativa bördan och skapa enklare regler för små privata aktiebolag. Utredningens resultat var färdigt i april 2009 och presenterades i SOU 2009:34. Resultatet av utredningen omfattar flertalet förändringar vad gäller såväl aktiebolagslagen som aktiebolagsförordningen. Det är målsättningen regeringen hade med utredningen och de förenklingar som föreslås som är föremål för denna uppsats. Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera tre av förändringarna och förenklingarna. De tre områden som kommer att behandlas i denna uppsats är bolagets bildande, aktiebrev och aktiebok samt bolagets organisation. Uppsatsen kommer att utgå ifrån den målsättning regeringen hade när de tillsatte en utredning nämligen att minska små privata aktiebolags administrativa bördor och kostnader, att få ekonomisk tillväxt och ökad sysselsättning samt att de förenklingar som föreslås inte får sänka skyddet för borgenärer, arbetet mot ekonomisk brottslighet eller skattekontroll. De slutsatser som presenteras i denna uppsats är att förenklingarna som utredningen har föreslagit uppfyller den målsättning som regeringen hade när de tillsatte en utredare. Enligt författarens mening finns det dock vissa andra områden som utredaren kunde ha undersökt då det finns en tydlig problematik avseende bland annat möjligheter till utträde ur ett privat aktiebolag. Det ska även nämnas att utredningen enbart behandlar de bolagsrättsliga reglerna, det finns andra regler som kan vara av intresse att utreda, till exempel skatteregler för privata aktiebolag. / A person who wants to run business in Sweden can choose between different types of associations, including sole trading, partnerships or limited liability companies. There are two types of limited liability companies in Sweden, private and public, which are governed by the provisions of the Companies Act and the Companies ordinance. Parts of the provisions in these two regulations are derived from directives on corporate law that the EU has decided shall apply in the union. There are constant changes in corporate law regarding both the legal provisions from the EU and due to changes in the national legislation in Sweden. The European Commission has considered it necessary to review all corporate law directives in order to ease the administrative work for, in particular, smaller companies within the Union. The Commission also indicated in the same decision that it is necessary for each member state to review and reduce the administrative burden for small companies due to the national legislation. The Swedish Government issued a directive in September 2007 with the aim to reduce the administrative burden and to create simpler rules for small private limited liability companies. The result of the directive was completed in April 2009 and was presented in SOU 2009:34. The investigations result included several changes both to the Swedish Companies Act and Companies Ordinance. It is the purpose that the Government had when they appointed an investigation that is the subject of this thesis. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze three of the changes that the investigation has presented. The three changes that will be subject to this thesis is the establishment of a company, the share certificates and share register and companies organization. The thesis will be based on three goals that the government had when they set up an investigation, to reduce the administrative burden and cost for small private limited liability companies, to establish economic growth and increase employment and finally not to reduce the protection for creditors and the work against economic crime. The conclusion presented in this thesis is that the simplifications that the investigation had as purpose to fulfil, partially meets the goal the Government had. According to the author's opinion there are some areas that the investigation could have reviewed, such as the possibility for a shareholder to sell the shares in a private limited liability company.

King II articulated in an open manner, issues of disclosure, transparency, comparator ren1lmeration packages and a robust approach to the paYment of con1pensation in relation to poorly performing directors. While directors owe fiduciary duties to the company (shareholders present and future), by paying themselves huge packages, they do no longer act in the best interests of the con1pany because awarding themselves exorbitant packages may frustrate their duty to maximise shareholder value. The solution is that their interests be linked to those of shareholders by requiring that their pay be linked to their performance. With the advent of corporate governance reforms, other stakeholder interests have to be taken cognisance of by directors in corporate decision Inaking. As such, a huge gap between the salaries of rank and file employees and those of executive directors is seen as a conscious move to ignore the interests of legitimate stakeholders when there is no compelling reason to do so. To try and align the interest of shareholders and directors, it is felt that more emphasis has to be placed on actively engaging shareholders and employees in the determination of executive remuneration. It is subn1itted that pay that is not linked to performance is a breach of fiduciary duties, in particular, duty to avoid conflict of interest. However, our common law and Companies Act 61 of 1973 fail imn1ensely to address concerns relating to excessive remuneration pay. In particular, the business judgment nl1e precludes minority shareholders taking action on the basis of wrongs committed against the company by virtue of pay not being linked to performance. Neither has the introduction of corporate governance reforms impacted heavily on setting executive remuneration. They have not proved effective in curbing fat cat pay. It is acknowledged that these reforms have ~rought about a profound impact on attitudes in the corporate environment. However, numerous deficiencies, particularly in the context of South Africa can be identified. This thesis serves as a means of establishing whether fron1 a legal perspective, following recent reforms, the negative impact of exorbitant remuneration pay is of such a serious nature as to warrant more stringent regulation in one form or the other. South Africa should consider revan1ping and tightening current legislation, which as submitted is lacking in a number of respects. As a strategy to eradicate exorbitant pay, it is submitted that directors fiduciary duties have to be revised and legislated in order to successfully establish directors wrongdoing. It is felt that legislative enactment may be made stronger by the fact that it may have stronger and sharper teeth and hence able to reach where self-regulated codes are weak. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

This study examines changes in British financial reporting that are in the progress with the focus on the year 2012. The subject of the analysis are the differences in selected areas between the new proposals (FREDs 46-48) and current FRSs, former proposals (FREDs 43-45), IFRS for SME, and "full" IFRS. The results suggest that Britain continues to preserve some particular treatments, even though those are not fully in line with IFRS for SME or "full" IFRS. In addition to this, formats of the financial statements according to UK GAAP were examined. The result suggests that the current formats defined by the company law will be preserved. The popularity of vertical balance sheet, which is typical for the UK, is illustrated by examining financial statements of selected companies.

The Companies Act 71 of 2008 (“2008 Companies Act”) will have far reaching effects on the manner in which a company is formed and operated under South African company law and in particular entrenches the procedure that must be followed by a company when acquiring its own shares. The radical amendment of the capital maintenance rules by the introduction of the solvency and liquidity tests to the Companies Act 61 of 1973 has been carried forward under the 2008 Companies Act. These tests impose an obligation on a company to ensure that the company is both solvent and liquid at the time of the acquisition of its own shares and for a stated period thereafter. The 2008 Companies Act further brings the duties and liabilities of the directors in line with their current fiduciary duties in terms of common law. / Mercantile Law / LLM