News Round Up

Monday, September 8th 2003, 6:30AM

Giving lawyers a bad name
A sense of humour has got a Tauranga-based financial planning firm into trouble - briefly.

Financial Wisdom ran an advertisement in the Bay of Plenty Times with the line "Thought of the week...99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name", as a way of attracting attention to its business.

However it ended up getting attention from lawyer T Richardson who found the ad "offensive" and a "gratuitous insult to the legal profession". He asked the Adverstising Standards Complaints Board to take Financial Wisdom to task and apologise.

Instead the board essentially told the complainant to get a sense of humour. After reviewing a number of other such quotes Financial Wisdom had used it said each of the ads were humerous and hyperbolic.

"Although the complainant had found the material offensive, the board was unanimously of the view that such material was not likely to cause either serious or widespread offence."

Consequently the complaint was not upheld.

Planning for Property Success
A new book from Andrew King aims to help people develop successful property investing strategies.

It shows investors how to analyse their current situation, present alternative strategies and how to put all the factors together to form a realistic and personalised plan to follow. The core of the book examines and explains the six key strategies for successful property investment. [MORE]

Developing corporate governance
The Securities Commission is launching a national consultation process to establish consensus around the principles of corporate governance that should guide business leaders in New Zealand.

"It is timely to review the level of consensus there is around norms of corporate governance in New Zealand,” commission chairman Jane Diplock says.

She says the commission is taking a principles-based approach as the Australians have done, rather than a rules-based one used in the United States.

Diplock said that good governance doesn’t just apply to listed companies. "There are many other organisational forms in New Zealand where good governance is essential for the integrity of our institutions.

« Brokerage on new capital protected fund

Sovereign takes regulation bull by the horns »

Special Offers