Convictions against companies and company directors for offences under company law increased by 50 per cent last year, according to the Director of Corporate Enforcement
Publishing his annual report for 2004 today Paul Appleby said 66 people were convicted for company law offences and three company directors were disqualified.
Restrictions were also placed on 217 company directors on the size of the companies whose board they can serve on.
Mr Appleby said he has submitted a funding request that would allow him to increase the staff of his office by 20 people, a rise of 50 per cent. Currently there are 35 people working in the office. He said this request had received a "sympathetic ear so far".
Part of the reason for this increase is to advance some of the larger cases before his office, he said.
"I have decided that we should give more emphasis to the sanction of disqualification in our future work. Having secured three disqualifications last year, we are hoping to increase that figure substantially in 2005."
Mr Appleby said eight disqualifications had been secured so far this year and he hoped to improve on that.
He expressed concern the Register of Disqualified Persons in the Companies Registration Office was incomplete. Mr Appleby said it contained about 20 names, about half of which were from Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) actions.
To deal with this, the ODCE has contacted the Courts Service, and court registrars across the country are identifying eligible individuals disqualified following a recent conviction on indictment.
"This should see at least 1,000 names added to the register of Register of Disqualified Persons over the coming months," Mr Appleby said.
He noted compliance with regulations was improving and that 1,000 companies had been struck off in the last few years. "It will be much easier now that the dross is cleared off."
Speaking about the case load of investigations in his office, Mr Appleby said hundreds were ongoing.
Responding to this morning’s report, Pat Costello, chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants said: "Undoubtedly the ODCE has made a considerable impact since its establishment four years ago".
He said it was now time to assess the overall regulatory burden on businesses. "For example the ODCE’s success calls into question the need for further regulatory changes."
"While our members have cooperated with the ODCE and other bodies in recent years, the reporting burden on accountants has grown phenomenally on our members. The various regimes covering company, tax and criminal law are neither clear nor coherent; involve reporting obligations in different formats, triggered by different thresholds and to different bodies," he said.
