The Academic Director Prof. Dr. Kid Schwarz opened the conference, which was in the following lead by Prof. Dr. Mieke Olaerts.

The first speaker, Prof. Dr. Peter van de Zanden RA, vividly presented the topic of the annual accounts of a company also from the perspective of an accountant. He discussed the impending discontinuity of the company, which can be inferred from the annual accounts.

Afterwards, Theo Hanssen, partner at DVDW Advocaten, continued the series of presentations by talking about the mitigation of the Beklamel-norm and the selective payment. He shed light on the problematic situation of board members who might become too cautious due to their fear of personal liability. The lunch break in the Grand café Soiron of the Museum at the Vrijthof followed this presentation.

Subsequent to this break, the international part of the conference was started by Prof. Dr. Melissa Vanmeenen who elaborately enlightened the audience with regards to the Belgian laws on the continuity of companies. Prof. Dr. Bob Wessels then took the participants onto a journey through the European approach towards companies who find themselves in difficult financial situations.

The conference was properly completed by a presentation of Prof. Dr. Mieke Olaerts on the reorganization of corporations, but not before Drs. Heske van Eyck van Heslinga had the chance to introduce the enquiry procedure from the corporate chamber of the court of Amsterdam and her experiences as a commissioner of this chamber. 

The Institute for Corporate Law, Governance and Innovation Policies would like to thank all speakers for their contribution to the conference and their contribution to the special edition of the “Tijdschrift voor vennootschapsrecht, rechtspersonenrecht en ondernemingsbestuur” (TVOB 2015/6), and last but not least: Many thanks to all participants!