The professional accountant - Essay Example

At present, the company has eight major institutional investors that hold a large share in the company. It is noted that the company follows faithfully the Code of Governance in UK that provides balance representation of executive directors non executive directors in the Board. Non executive Directors are supposed to control and monitor performance of management to protect its shareholders. However, in doing so, conflicts in management arise. My Personal view is presented at end of the topic saying that the Code of Governance should have sanctions or penalties to strengthen compliance.

Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Section 1. Introduction 4 Corporate governance 4 Institutional investors 5 Section 2. Roles of financial investors in the financial system and in the business 5 Section 3. Major potential conflicts of interest that affect non-executive directors 6 How they are addressed by the corporate governance code. 6 Section 4. Comments on fulfillment of duties of non-executive directors 7 Bibliography 8 The Roles of Institutional Investors of ACM Shipping Group, Plc. 1. Background information.

ACM Shipping Group Plc is a company incorporated in UK in 1982. Since then, it has grown to be one of the world’s leading international shipbrokers that provide full range of integrated ship brokering services for the global market. It is a publicly listed company and has complied with Rule 26 of AIM Rules. It has a reported profit of ?2.1 million as of half year of 2012. As per report, it pays a steady dividend of 3.15 pence per share ( ACM .Company Profile . 2012). Corporate governance. The company maintains three executives and three non-executive directors; a composition that the company believes is enough to accomplish its missions and objectives.

As a company policy, it is imposing a series of Board changes as part of succession planning to ensure that the future of the management remains forceful. For example, in 2012, a movement and change of executive positions took place (ACM Financial.2012). The Board is in charge of setting up a strategic direction of the company and the monitoring of its performance against its plan. The Board also reviews and approves company proposals, formulates budget and decides on other major items on the operations of the company.

An example of major policy decision is: In 2012 interim report, the Board said it continues to expand its brokerage business in new areas like Dubai and to continue with its present strategies of sale and purchase of assets. An important duty of the board is to maintain good relations with shareholders. This is done thru annual meetings where questions are discussed. Website information is also maintained as a way of establishing Communication to its shareholders. Institutional investors As defined, institutional investors are non-bank organization that pool large sums of money and invest them in securities, real property, or investment assets.

(Investopedia n.d.) As such, they provide large capital to the company and become significant stakeholders. 2. Role of institutional investors in the financial system and in the business. The role of institutional investors in the financial system is to act as specialized investors in behalf of others. For example, ACM, As of December 12, 2012 has 8 institutional investors that hold more than 3% of its share capital. These are GFI Holdings Ltd, 7.3%; William Stanley Middleton, 6.3%; James Christopher Ducher Gundy, 6.

3%; Michael Amyas