Commercial & Corporate Law for Accountants

Assessment Item: Research Essay Task

"To better support early restructures, consideration should also be given to the role and responsibilities of company directors during restructuring and the incentives these create. In particular, the Commission recommends the introduction of a ‘safe harbour' defence for directors of solvent but struggling companies, such that they would be able to undertake formal restructuring activities without liability for insolvent trading while the defence is active."

Australian Government Productivity Commission Inquiry Report No. 75, 30 September 2015: ‘Business Set-up, Transfer and Closure', p 25 (‘Overview') (available at http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/business/report) Discuss whether or not you agree with the Productivity Commission's recommendation, with reference to primary and secondary sources of law.

Please note:

- The maximum word length for this essay is 2,000 words (there is an allowed margin of 10% under/over this word limit). This is a research xercise, so you are expected to go beyond the prescribed textbook (and the PC's Report!) by locating and critically analysing primary and secondary sources. Essays which do not demonstrate a research effort and/or which do not use the full allowable word limit are likely to be given lower marks;

- Assignments must be submitted online via Learnline. No other form of submission, (such as email) will be accepted. An assignment submitted via the draft submission link (SafeAssign check) will not be accepted as a final submission and will not be marked. It is your responsibility to submit your final assignment in the correct way -ie, via the final submission point on Learnline;

- Either of the CDU Harvard or AGLC referencing styles may be used, as long as you choose one style and use it consistently;

- Plagiarism or collusion will be detected and acted upon (penalised) in accordance with CDU's Academic Integrity Policy. You are expected to read, refer to and cite various primary and secondary sources in the course of writing your essay.

However, it is also important that you explain key arguments and points in your own words. Avoid excessive word-for-word quotation of other literature. Do not paraphrase another author's work too close to the original (changing a few words in a sentence from a book or article and passing it off as your own writing is still plagiarism).