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1
Report on CRF ConferenceHong Kong March 2006
Lynn Lynch
Companies House
UK
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CRF Delegates
Australia
Brunei
Canada
PR of China
Hong Kong
Malaysia
Mauritius
New Zealand
Samoa
Singapore
South Africa
Thailand
United Kingdom
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Observers of CRF 2006
Denmark
Ireland
Jersey
The Netherlands
Norway
Serbia & Montenegro
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Working across ECRF and CRF
Mutual recognition and co-operation
Observer status
Benchmarking / sharing information
Secondment
Study visits
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Themes of CRF Conference
IT Updates
Compliance
Company Law Reform
Business & Economic Promotion
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IT updates: general observations
Paperless environment?
Self-management of date
Greater use of electronic channels forfiling and searching
Financial incentives to use electronic
Increasing data quality
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IT updates: general observations
Integrity of register
Security of register
‘Unlocking value for public information’
Sending electronic reminders to clients
XBRL developments - Singapore and UK
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Compliance
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Compliance: general observations
Prevention v prosecution
Enforcement difficulties
Linking with other government departments to achieve compliance
Use of IT to achieve compliance
Discussions on Annual Return
Fraud and the register
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Compliance issues - the UK
• ‘Soft compliance’ - public target 92%, actual 91%
• ‘Hard compliance’ - 85% for accounts, 65% for annual returns
• Habitual offenders• Marketing campaigns• Company Law Reform Bill
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Fraud - UK
Facts and Figures:– Measured since 2002
– Approximately 50 cases a month
– Over 500,000 standard filings a month
(0.01%)
– 1 case could cost £1m.
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False Filing Cases - UK May 02 - Jan 06
0
20
40
60
80
Jan-
02
Jan-
03
Jan-
04
Jan-
05
Jan-
06
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False Filing Cases - UK
33%
28%
12%
10%
8%
0 % 5 % 1 0 % 1 5 % 2 0 % 2 5 % 3 0 % 3 5 %
Officer appointedwithout consent
RO changed wthoutconsent
Address used withoutconsent
Warring directors
Officer resigned withoutconsent
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Fraud - UK
• Key Areas
• Company Hijacks
– False Appointments
– False Auditors
– False Financial Information
– Similar named companies
– Copying signatures on the CH record
– Non-regulation of company formation agents
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Fraud - press coverage
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Fraud - what are we doing to prevent it?
• Focus on Hijack• Operation Sterling• Police Liaison Officer on site• Home Office Identity Fraud Steering
Group• Work with others - OGD’s and credit
reference agencies
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Fraud - prevention cont….
• Crime analysis
• Evaluate electronic validation options
• Company Law Reform changes
• Marketing activity
• 3 Point plan
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our 3 point plan toprevent identity fraud
1.Electronic Filing
3.Monitor
2.PROOF
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safe and simple
a secure system for the quick and easy
online submission of company information
Electronic filing
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PROOFPROtected Online Filing
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Get the bigger picture
Monitor
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Company Law Reform Bill - helping prevent fraud in the UK?
• A company can agree to file documents electronically - PROOF will be on a statutory basis
• It will be an offence to deliver false, misleading or deceptive documents
• Registrar has the power to resolve inconsistencies on the register
• Unique identifiers for directors
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Business & EconomicPromotion: general observations
File once with government:New Zealand model
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Questions?