Adam Schwab
Adam Schwab is a commentator, business director, and the co-founder of LuxuryEscapes.com. He is also the author of Pigs at the Trough: Lessons from Australia’s Decade of Corporate Greed.
Australian shareholders are revolting as company directors (and their hired help) design long-term incentive packages that continue to unjustly enrich executives.
The intrigue around the empire of mining entrepreneur Michael Kiernan continues to bemuse, with the cornucopia of companies with which Kiernan associates appearing to spend more time in administration than US-based airlines.
Last week, shareholders in contractor United Group vented their anger at the company’s generous pay practices (including a 30% pay rise for the CEO!) with the majority of shares being voted against the company.
Company directors are six times more likely to be hit by lightning than to be prosecuted under our liability laws, writes Adam Schwab.
The Qantas 2009 Remuneration Report stands out like a beacon of poor corporate governance. That a majority of institutional shareholders could actually vote in favour of the resolution makes you wonder: exactly who is watching the watchers?
Michael Kiernan, former boss of Consolidated Minerals, remains one of the Australian mining industry’s most colourful figures, having developed for himself a "black widow" reputation in the sector.
ASIC announced today that it was bringing civil charges against the former executive and non-executive directors of collapsed property group Centro, alleging they failed to correctly classify $1.54 billion of interest-bearing liabilities.
Despite its ubiquity, residential property remains one of the least transparent asset classes in Australia. Most buyers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an asset which they know very little about.
If you were to believe world stock markets, the recession is drawing to a close, with the wisdom of government spending and global monetary easing spurring the world to another economic recovery. But the markets have long proven to be an unfaithful talisman.
As lobbyists mull over the Productivity Commission’s draft reforms to executive remuneration rules, the first non-binding Remuneration Report of 2009 has been voted down by shareholders.
