PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) corporate services practice has published a handy pocket guide designed to help company directors quickly identify their key responsibilities under the law.
The guide provides an overview of the important features of the Companies Act that relate to the appointment, powers, duties and offences of directors. It was presented to the business community at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s recent luncheon.
Ronaele Dathorne-Bayrd, PwC partner responsible for corporate services, says the pocket guide is the firm’s response to a growing need it has observed among its clients in recent years.
“In our corporate services practice at PwC, we spend a considerable amount of time advising clients on issues associated with corporate governance’” she said.
“Increasingly, we see many directors of our local companies, whether large or small, private or publicly listed, grappling with the challenges associated with sitting on a board of directors today. We have come up with the pocket guide to help them quickly answer the day-to-day questions they may have about their duties under the law.”
Dathorne-Bayrd said once these questions are answered, directors can move on confidently to tackle bigger issues, such as whether their board is meeting international best practice standards for corporate governance.
“The guide is not designed to answer these deeper questions, so directors may still have to look elsewhere for guidance in such areas,” she said.
“It is fair to say that the responsibilities of a director today can be quite daunting, particularly in these economic times and especially if you are new to the role,” she said.
“The level of accountability is far greater than it was 15 years or even ten years ago. And of course, there is the issue of personal liability which we didn’t worry too much about in the Caribbean in days gone by.” (PR)
