Corporate Governance Practices of BHP Billiton and Ausdrill Limited: A Comparative Analysis

Running head: ACCOUNTING THEORY AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Accounting Theory and Corporate Governance
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1ACCOUNTING THEORY AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Table of Contents
Part A:..............................................................................................................................................2
Requirement 1:.............................................................................................................................2
Requirement 2:.............................................................................................................................2
Part a:.......................................................................................................................................2
Part b:.......................................................................................................................................2
Part c:.......................................................................................................................................3
Part d:.......................................................................................................................................3
Part e:.......................................................................................................................................3
Part f:.......................................................................................................................................3
Requirement 3:.............................................................................................................................4
Part B:..............................................................................................................................................4
References:....................................................................................................................................10

2ACCOUNTING THEORY AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Part A:
Requirement 1:
From the annual reports of BHP Billiton and Ausdrill Limited, it could be observed that
the organisations have prepared separate sections for disclosing their policies, practices and
strategies related to corporate governance. Thus, the approaches adopted by the two
organisations are descriptive in nature so that they could effectively showcase various aspects of
corporate governance. Moreover, both organisations have disclosed information regarding all the
factors of corporate governance. In case of both BHP Billiton and Ausdrill Limited, all necessary
information regarding the factors of corporate governance is provided in this particular section to
their stakeholder groups.
Requirement 2:
Part a:
BHP Billiton has 11 directors, which is evident from its latest annual report (Bhp.com
2019). On the other hand, the number of directors in Ausdrill Limited is 7 (Ausdrill.com.au
2019).
Part b:
In case of BHP Billiton, there are 8 non-executive directors, which are 72.73% of the
total number of directors and for Ausdrill Limited, the number of non-executive directors is 6,
which is 85.71% of the total number of directors.

3ACCOUNTING THEORY AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Part c:
Out of 11 directors of BHP Billiton, 9 directors are found to be independent, which is
81.82% of the total directors and for Ausdrill Limited, no disclosures regarding the independence
of the directors have been made in its annual report.
Part d:
The Chairman of BHP Billiton is Ken MacKenzie and the Chief Executive Officer of the
organisation is Andrew MacKenzie. According to their reports, the organisation has improved its
framework of capital allocation, sharpened its focus on productivity and culture along with
providing solid set of financial outcomes owing to which it has recorded financial dividend of
$0.63 per share (BHP 2019).
The acting Chief Executive Officer of Ausdrill Limited is T. Mlikota and the Chairman
of the organisation is Ian Howard Cochrane. According to the report of the Chairman, the
organisation has managed to survive from the downturn of the Australian mining sector with the
help of rationalisation and business improvement activities, which have ensured better returns to
the shareholders (Ausdrill.com.au 2019).
Part e:
For BHP Billiton, the executive directors hold 32% of the shares, while the executive
directors of Ausdrill Limited own 29% of the shares of the overall shares in 2018.
Part f:
In case of both organisations, none of them have disclosed information regarding the
block holders and institutional investors.