Cohen Into Law
It is becoming a commonplace of commerce that codified company law needs a periodic shake-up to ensure that it renders full service to the community. The law of 1929 has served its purpose adequately, but the unanimous report of the Cohen Committee of June, 1945, pointed out a large number of ways in which its useful- ness could be improved, largely by the disclosure of further informa- tion in company accounts. The Report was generally welcomed by shareholders ; by those enlightened companies who had already in their own practice anticipated some of the reforms now suggested ; by accountants ; by a select band of students of economic organisa- tion who had realised what a gold mine of information company accounts could be to the patient researcher ; and, no doubt, by those less disinterested persons who are willing to treat any information about the capitalist system as evidence against it. It was opposed by companies with a strong liking for privacy, or fear of publicity, and by a few purists who thought some of its recommendations inadequate for their purpose. However that may be, the Report is to be incorporated into a new Companies Act, lock, stock and barrel, and even with some additions subsequently suggested. It will now be possible to discover exactly who holds what shares, the removal of most of the barriers to knowledge interposed by nominee holdings having been provided for. It will be possible clearly to distinguish the affairs of a holding company from those of its subsidiaries. Hidden reserves will be exposed to the light of day. And many more details, which are mainly the concern of experts, will be tidied up. There will also be some reshuffling of share values as it becomes clear just how large or small the reserves of particular companies are—though the process has to some extent been discounted already by the market for a whole group of what are popularly called "Cohen Companies."
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