ASB to debate new dividend distribution regime
ASB says that current rules are unnecessarily rigid and place excessive burdens on companies
The Accounting Standards Board is to debate ways of getting around complex EU
law requirements before shareholder money is returned.
The 2nd Company Law Directive sets out that dividends are paid out of
realised profits.
The ASB said today that while safeguards are necessary to protect the
interests of creditors, the current requirements have been much criticised.
‘It has been argued that they do not achieve their purpose, that they are
unnecessarily rigid, and that they place excessive burdens on companies, the ASB
said in a statement.
The ASB is to discuss an alternative solvency-based regime, proposed by
Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens.
Other speakers who will share their debate the issue include Paolo Santella,
a National Expert at the European Commission working on the Commission
evaluation of the feasibility of an alternative to the legal capital as
established by the 2nd Company Law Directive; Erich Kandler, chairman of the FEE
Company Law and Corporate Governance Working Party; Ken Lever, chairman of the
Financial Reporting Committee of The Hundred Group of Finance Directors; and the
ASB’s director of Research, Andrew Lennard.
Read FEE’s paper
here.