Speaking out: clarity on expectations and values
This is one of three opinion articles published as a package, looking at the issue of political neutrality in the public sector.
Submission on the Business Payment Practices Bill
We applaud this Bill as a response to the concerns raised by small businesses which should see value shared between large entities with smaller entities providing services to them. However the Bill needs to reflect an understanding of governance best practice.
The purpose of the Business Payment Practices Act is to:
- improve transparency in certain business-to-business payment practices; and
- enable members of the public and entities to access information about those business-to-business payment practices so that they can make informed choices about whether to engage with certain large entities.
Clause 8 of the Bill requires that disclosures of these payment practices to be confirmed and signed off by a director.
In Section 8(4)(c) it notes that the disclosure must “confirm that a director of the entity is satisfied that the information disclosed is complete and accurate”.
We consider that this confuses operational and governance roles and should instead be signed at an officer level, or, that it should be analogous with section 214(3) of the Companies Act that requires annual returns to be signed by a director of the company, or by a solicitor or qualified statutory accountant.
Submissions can be made on the Bill until 11.59pm Sunday 8 January 2023.
Download submission
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