Report:
2500 words
Task
details:
You should read the below memorandum of
instructions. Then write a report as instructed. As indicated in the
memorandum, the audience for your report is your principal.
Instructions:
In this report-style assignment you should work
to prepare a detailed report for the client on the issues identified in the
instruction memorandum. Your report should cover both legal and practical
advice and should be addressed to the board of directors. Therefore, you should
assume that you are addressing a sophisticated but non-lawyer audience, so some
explanation of legal concepts will be required. As well as legal analysis, you
should consider fully the political, technological, philosophical and economic
implications of issues arising from the instructions.
Memorandum of Instructions
From:
Jane Ball (Corporate Partner)
To:
Ellen Collini (Associate)
Date:
1st
November 2022
Westlands
Group PLC
As you know, one of our most important corporate clients is
Westlands Group PLC (Westlands), a large multi-national corporation which is
quoted on the FTSE 350 on the London Stock Exchange. This morning I met with
Ralph Warner, Thomas Richardson and Pranav Choudhury, respectively the
Chairman, CEO and finance director of Westlands to take instructions on some
extremely important issues that they are currently dealing with. They want us
to prepare a detailed report for them on these issues and have given us a
strict deadline to submit the completed report so that it can be considered by
the full board of directors in two weeks’ time. I shall require your assistance
in compiling the report as I am currently committed to dealing with a number of
other important matters.
The issues they wish us to advise on are as follows:
The
Board’s strategy is to expand the business into Germany but they are not
familiar with the corporate governance regimes existing in this country.
Of course, they are very familiar with the UK Corporate Governance Code
and its requirements, but there are significant differences in the laws
and regulations introduced in other countries, and they would like us to
provide a summary of the key differences between the UK rules and those in
Germany in relation to the following three areas (850 words):
·
Structure
of the board and the role and responsibilities of the board of directors:
Describe
the structure of the board of directors under uk government Governance code and
Germany Government Governance code, explain the differences and also describe
the board of directors’ responsibilities and the differences as well. Include a
table after the analysis summarizing the key differences
·
Rules
for setting executive remuneration.
Describe the rules of executive
remuneration of each county for the board of directors and explain the
differences.
It would be useful in 2 sentences to explain
the benefits of each country for the above topics.
2.
The
Board has plans to streamline the business by outsourcing some of its
back-office functions such as complaints handling and HR support. This will
involve a major restructure of the business and lead to job losses at the
company’s head office in Salford. Some of the jobs are likely to be relocated
overseas in order to achieve cost saving. The board is confident that these
changes will be beneficial for the business in the short term but are aware
that there is likely to be significant opposition to the move from trade unions
and from some shareholders
(850 words):
·
The
board of directors would like to know what their duties are under the Companies
Act when it comes to making strategic decisions such as these and what, if any,
action the shareholders could take to challenge the board’s decisions in this
regard.
Explain in detail and give examples.
3.
Finally,
the Board would like some advice on the provisions in the UK Corporate
Governance Code that relate to the role and number of executive and
non-executive directors that they should have, and the extent to which any
non-executive directors need to be independent (850 words)
Report Structure:
·
Introduction:
Write what will the report will be about, and what will analyse.
·
Analysis
for each above question (answer to each question)
·
Use
Harvard style reference in cite references.
The report must have a table of contents, and
academic journals, reports, and only reputable professional or academic
websites must be used for referencing