Australian Continuous Disclosure Compliance

This assignment examines the Australian continuous disclosure framework, focusing on its implementation and effectiveness. Students are tasked with analyzing the relationship between continuous disclosure and various factors, including analysts' forecasts, corporate governance practices, and market transparency. The assignment draws upon academic research and case studies to provide a comprehensive understanding of this crucial regulatory aspect within the Australian financial landscape.

Running head: CORPORTE ACCOUNTING
Corporate accounting
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Table of Contents
Part 1..........................................................................................................................................2
Answer to question 1..............................................................................................................2
Answer to question 2..............................................................................................................2
Answer to question 3..............................................................................................................3
Answer to question 4..............................................................................................................3
Part 2..........................................................................................................................................4
Introduction................................................................................................................................5
Literature R-eview.....................................................................................................................5
Release of information on time:.............................................................................................6
The access to the information -should be equal:....................................................................7
Premature release:..................................................................................................................7
Variable commercial interests:...............................................................................................7
Prevention of the disclosure of the confidentiality of information:.......................................8
Enforcement and remedies:....................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Part 1
Answer to question 1
It has been observed that Bellamy`s Australia Ltd has faced some serious financial
crisis due to some reasons. The reasons are specific and they are quite major. It was however
reported that the company was facing a halt in the shares that they had as Certification and
Accreditation Administration of the People`s Republic of China (CNCA) that suspended the
license of the company that is required for the export of the milk formula from the plant of
Melbourne. The halt in the share trading has affected the in the financial position of the
company. Apart from this it has been observed that the company has faced another major
issue in the current times. It was witnessed that Bellamy`s Australia Ltd has requested the
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) for the suspension of their shares. This decision had a
havoc effect on the company and especially on the shareholders. The decision had a negative
effect on the company. The major reason of this decision is the non-compliance with the
principles of continuous disclosure. The Bellamy`s Australia Ltd came up with the view that
the decision of suspension would enable to get enough time to manage their obligation for the
continuous disclosure. These two important reasons are causing a financial quandary for the
company.
Answer to question 2
The annual report of the company proved that the company has neglected about the
option of goodwill in their financial statements for the year 2016. They made assets
acquisition of 719,000 dollars in Australia, 8000 in East Asia and 25,000 combined in China
(annualreports.com 2018). This proved the fact that the company had some major
acquisitions of segment assets in the year 2016. Therefore it has been observed that there has

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been a slight increase in the cash position in the year 2016 as compared to the year 2015
(annualreports.com 2018).
Answer to question 3
The statement of profit and loss of Bellamy`s Australia Ltd shows the decreased level
of profit for the company in the year 2017 as compared to the year 2016. In the year 2017, it
was observed that the company faced a decrease in the gross profit as compared to the year
2016. In the year 2016 the company faced the profit of 101,228,000 dollars and in the year
2017 the company suffered the loss as it had the profit of 91,521,000 dollars. This was not the
end things grew worse when the company witnessed a net loss of 809,000 dollars in the year
2017. On the other hand the net profit of the company in the year 2016 was 38,328,000
dollars. The years 2016 and 2017 saw an increase in the administrative and other costs. Later
the CNCA suspended the milk-exporting license on Bellamy`s Australia Ltd from the
Melbourne plant (investors.bellamysorganic.com.au 2018).
Answer to question 4
The above explanation justifies the fact that the financial position of Bellamy`s
Australia Ltd has become shoddier in the year 2017. The negative effect was because of the
halt that the company had to experience in the trade and also the suspension of the shares.
The above mentioned aspects are the only thing responsible for the major loss of the
company in the year 2017. The company is going through such loss that it is recommended
for the clients to sell the shares of Bellamy`s Australia Ltd.

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Part 2
Executive summary
The development of the continuous disclosure framework is inversely related to the
development of efficient equity market in Australia. This is the main objective of the
development of the continuous disclosure framework. The major reason for this is the
particular framework that helps the companies of the Australia in the revealing of the fragile
and confidential information that are having a material effect on the share prices. The primary
of this report is to analyze and evaluate the various aspects of the continuous disclosure
framework of ASX for the Australian companies. It is evident from many resources that the
Australian companies can have the opportunity to have the benefit from the implementation
of the continuous framework of ASX. The most important aspect of this is that the framework
plays an integral part in revealing the information about the shares of the company to the
shareholders and the investors in order to reach to some kind of decision.

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Introduction
The process of continuous disclosure regime or the requirement of the Australian
Security Exchange (ASX) has gained much importance for the Australian companies. Based
on the mentioned requirement it has been observed that the Australian companies have some
amount of obligation that is related to the disclosure of the information related to the share
under the Lasting Rules 3.1 and 3.1A. The requirement of continuous disclosure must be
followed and while following such it should be the responsibility of the business
organizations to inform about the specific changes to ASX that might have any sort of
material effect on the share prices of the companies (Hsu, Lindsay and Tutticci 2012). The
justification given by the ASX regarding the necessity of the disclosure obligation was to
increase the integrity and the efficiency of the share market. Apart from all these there are
many questions that have come to the forefront regarding the importance and the
effectiveness of the continuous disclosure framework of ASX for the Australian companies.
The importance of the continuous disclosure framework has to be analysed in order to
understand the necessity of the framework. There are some valid reasons of the importance of
the framework. The report analyses the importance of the same and the effect of the
framework on the Australian companies. The report mostly focuses on the benefits of the
Australian companies that the companies can avail by complying with the principles of the
continuous disclosure framework. The necessities and the importance of the framework are
discussed in the report.
Literature R-eview
The above discussion states that the Australian companies can avail the benefits by
complying with the obligation of the continuous disclosure requirement.

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Provides proper information to market:
The business organizations were able to release ample information to the investors by
following the continuous disclosure framework. The release of information to the investors is
important as the investors invest their money on the companies in the shares. Providing
information before hand would make it easy for them to take decision while investing their
money. This would help the investors to make a proper judgment about the share prices
(Matolcsy, Tyler and Wells 2012). This is a matter of fact that the companies must provide
genuine information that would help the investors to invest their money in the correct place.
Any kind of wrong information might mislead the investors and they might fall in the wrong
trap. The other benefit of having the disclosure framework is it makes the companies answer
to the rumours that are there in the market and the speculations that are having a chance of
having a material impact on the share prices of the companies (Hermalin and Weisbach
2012).
Release of information on time:
The most important impact is the continuous disclosure framework on the Australian
companies is the release of the information on time to the investors and the shareholders
(Chapple and Truong 2015). The company should take the responsibility of conveying all the
information to the investors in the market in right time. It is recommended that as soon as the
company comes to know about the information that can be sensitive and that can have a
material effect on the share price they should share this before making any further delay. The
company can however follow the rule where the disclosure can be withheld. Following the
same principles it is required by the company to disclose the information on time when it is
no longer legitimately withheld. It is also required by the companies to answer all the
rumours that are there in the market related to the price of the shares (Seamer 2014).

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The access to the information -should be equal:
The framework provides assistance to all the investors to become equally beneficial
from equal access to the share that are related to all kinds of information of the Australian
companies (Russell 2015). It is one of the major principles of the framework to provide equal
opportunity to all the investors so that all the investors can get equal advantages as well as
equal disadvantages. This saves the integrity of the share market. In the absence of selective
disclosure, ASX has become able to reduce the chances of insider trading related with the
materially sensitive share information (Di Lernia 2014). This particular aspect helps in the
restoration of the confidence of the shareholders and the investors in ASX.
Premature release:
The biggest advantage of having continuous disclosure framework is the prevention
of the premature release of the information that is related to the shares (Chang, Hooi and Wee
2014). This framework helps to keep a control between the premature disclosure of
information and the material and valid information related to the shares. This step can avoid
the creation of false market. The absence of the continuous disclosure framework can have
adverse effect on the companies. The companies would try to make false and conflicting
information about the shares and the securities. The framework would prevent this step and it
would help the companies to have a good and genuine market (Chapple, Jubb and Lee 2012).
Variable commercial interests:
The implementation of the continuous disclosure framework helps to safeguard the
commercial interests of different parties who are involved in the transactions of the share
markets. This framework helped to keep the balance between the timely disclosure of
sensitive material information and safeguarding the commercial interest of the shareholders
and investors (North 2014). This is the reason the Australian companies must maintain the

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confidentiality of share information. This is the reason the Australian company must abide by
the principles of the continuous disclosure framework (Tran 2015).
Prevention of the disclosure of the confidentiality of information:
According to the framework the companies must maintain the confidentiality of the
information and prevent it from leaking in the market. The business organizations have the
authority to spread sensitive information to their advisors and the commercial partners. The
partners are not having the authority to trade in the shares and the securities of the company
based on the information, it is because they are not available to the investors. This particular
point implies that it is completely the responsibility of the company to confidentiality of the
released information to the investors and the shareholders (Di Lernia 2014).
Enforcement and remedies:
The continuous disclosure framework helps the Australian companies in establishing
the remedies that are related to the confidential material information for the shares. This
particular framework helps the companies in the establishment of a transparent guidance for
the confidential and sensitive information (Price 2014). To be more specific the framework
sets some amount of penalty for different kinds of situations that is related with the disclosure
of sharing the information by the Australian companies in revealing the material and
confidential information related to share.
From the above discussion it can be extracted that the continuous disclosure
framework is essential and necessary for many Australian companies. The implementation
the framework helps all the business organizations in releasing ample amount of information
for the investors and the shareholders so that they can make effective decision of investment
(Riaz et al. 2013). Thus this can be learned from the above analysis that the framework plays

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an essential role in the reduction of information asymmetry between the Australian
companies and the investors (Di Lernia 2014).
Conclusion
The above discussion concludes the fact that the continuous disclosure framework has
many positive roles to play in the Australian firms. This is of great help to the investors and
avoids the negative aspects that are in many cases related to the share market. The trade is a
risky process and it is dependent on utmost trust and a transparent process of doing the trade.
The above discussion shows the way in which the framework prevents the companies to
disclose wrong information. This would show the investors the right path to invest their
money and to get good results from it. The maintaining of the confidentiality is another major
aspect that has been covered under this framework. Thus from the discussion and the analysis
of the entire report it can be concluded and it can be extracted that the implementation of this
framework is positive and it is a desired process. It is helpful for the development for the
robust and effective equity market in Australia. It is because of all this reason that it can be
stated that the Australian companies must follow a continuous disclosure framework in order
to do good business.

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References
Annualreports.com. (2018). Annual Report 2015-16. [online] Available at:
http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/ASX_BAL_2016.pdf
[Accessed 16 Jan. 2018].
Chang, M., Hooi, L. and Wee, M., 2014. How does investor relations disclosure affect
analysts' forecasts?. Accounting & Finance, 54(2), pp.365-391.
Chapple, E.L., Jubb, C. and Lee, J., 2012. Audit committee effectiveness in a mandatory
disclosure environment. In Proceedings of the 2012 Accounting and Finance Association of
Australia and New Zealand Conference. Accounting and Finance Association of Australia
and New Zealand (AFAANZ).
Chapple, L. and Truong, T.P., 2015. Continuous disclosure compliance: does corporate
governance matter?. Accounting & Finance, 55(4), pp.965-988.
Di Lernia, C., 2014. Empirical Research in Continuous Disclosure. Australian Accounting
Review, 24(4), pp.402-405.
Di Lernia, C.A., 2014. Faith/less? Market integrity and the enforcement of Australia’s
continuous disclosure provisions.
Hermalin, B.E. and Weisbach, M.S., 2012. Information disclosure and corporate
governance. The Journal of Finance, 67(1), pp.195-233.
Hsu, G.C.M., Lindsay, S. and Tutticci, I., 2012. Inter‐temporal changes in analysts’ forecast
properties under the Australian continuous disclosure regime. Accounting & Finance, 52(4),
pp.1101-1123.

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Investors.bellamysorganic.com.au. (2018). Annual Report 2017. [online] Available at:
http://investors.bellamysorganic.com.au/FormBuilder/_Resource/_module/
hwGxZyb3NkyBtC5tw1kqzQ/docs/reports/Bellamys_Annual_Report_2017.pdf [Accessed
16 Jan. 2018].
Matolcsy, Z., Tyler, J. and Wells, P., 2012. Is continuous disclosure associated with board
independence?. Australian Journal of Management, 37(1), pp.99-124.
North, G., 2014. Listed Company Disclosure and Financial Market Transparency: Is this a
Battle Worth Fighting or Merely Policy and Regulatory Mantra?. Browser Download This
Paper.
Price, J., 2014. Continuous disclosure. Governance Directions, 66(1), p.6.
Riaz, Z., Ray, S., Ray, P.K. and Kirkbride, J., 2013. Collibration as an alternative regulatory
approach for remuneration governance: A contextual analysis of Australia. International
Journal of Disclosure and Governance, 10(3), pp.246-260.
Russell, M., 2015. Continuous disclosure and information asymmetry. Accounting Research
Journal, 28(2), pp.195-224.
Seamer, M., 2014. Does Effective Corporate Governance Facilitate Continuous Market
Disclosure?. Australian Accounting Review, 24(2), pp.111-126.
Tran, A., 2015. Can taxable income be estimated from financial reports of listed companies in
Australia?. Browser Download This Paper.

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