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Undeterred by the humiliating loss of its legal case against two former One.Tel directors, the corporate puppy dog has bounced back with some guidelines on how directors can help stamp out insolvent trading.
The Tony D'Aloisio chaired Australian Securities and Investments Commission has proposed the concept that a director should "keep him or herself informed about the financial affairs of the company and regularly assess the company's solvency".
ASIC also reckons a director "immediately on identifying concerns about the company's viability, should take positive steps to confirm the company's financial position and realistically assess the options available to deal with the company's financial difficulties".
The puppy dog has called for feedback on its 35-page consultation paper on the matter, which was published yesterday. Say, perhaps the regulator could provide a cheat sheet, or a fridge magnet, to help directors work out if their company is insolvent.
Among the tips it has offered: "Generally, a company is insolvent if it is unable to pay all its debts when they fall due."
Plucker up
Macquarie Capital will be hosting its Christmas party tomorrow night at the Royal Botanic Gardens. There is no theme, but since the event will be held on Thanksgiving Day, perhaps guests could dress up as turkeys.
Footy follies
The Australian Securities Exchange was down a mouthpiece yesterday after a brutal game of lunch-time touch footy. Its chief spokesman, Matthew Gibbs, caught his leg in a divot on Monday and heard a "snap".
"It's a very violent sport, touch football," said Gibbs, who was nursing his wounds at home yesterday. He hobbled off in the first half, leaving the ASX Bears a man down, but ventured back to the field in the second half, hobbling up and down the sideline.
He ended up with a busted fibula and is on crutches.
Maybe the ASX big banana, Robert Elstone, will sign his plaster or issue Gibbs with a "please explain" notice.
At least Gibbs will have some time to enjoy his favourite pastimes, which include studying William Shakespeare, reading obituaries and clipping newspaper articles. "I read a newspaper with a pair of eyes and a pair of scissors, ready to snip items of interest," he confessed in a tell-all article in the University of Sydney's alumni magazine last year.
"I use the clippings as research for my own writing, to update or add to information I've already gathered, or just to reread later."
High-flying loss
It was only February last year that the 26-year-old internet billing high-flyer Daniel Tzvetkoff splashed out $27 million on the unfinished Gold Coast mansion of the fallen tourism entrepreneur Tony Smith and his wife, Simone.
Now it has been sold in another fire sale- for $17 million. Given the Ipswich-born internet whiz-kid spent $8 million on the house, that would translate into an $18 million loss on the investment.
Knight Frank, with Ray White, sold it under instruction from the receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers at the behest of the mortgagee, National Australia Bank.
Asiana Holdings, the company that owned the Mermaid Beach property, went into receivership in August still owing a contractor $700,000. Two companies of which Tzvetkoff was a director also claimed they were owed $24 million by Asiana.
The former V8 Supercar team sponsor and Queensland internet entrepreneur, who made his debut on last year's BRW Young Rich list with a $120 million fortune, made a quick exit from the list this year.
Smith, a former Sydney Swans ruckman who trademarked Schoolies Week, made his debut on the list in 2005 and peaked in 2006 when it valued his wealth at $73 million. He invested funds from the sale of his tourism businesses, including Breakfree, into the financial black hole that was MFS (aka Octaviar).
Burlesq-onia
The Australian Financial Review has sparked outrage among Italians over an illustration it published on Friday to accompany a story on Silvio Berlusconi's grip on Italy.
The illustration of a map of Italy, renamed Berlusconia, also renamed cities with some offensive names, some of which were Scami, Ponzi, Spivi, Slimi, Fascisti, Villano, Slutti, Dumbo and Creepi.
"The words describing the towns and regions on the drawing of the map of Italy are offensive, derogatory, discourteous and spiteful to Italo-Australians and to the general readership of the newspaper," said Felice Montrone, Australian secretary-general of the Confederation of Italians in the World, in his complaint.
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