The class action alleges shareholders suffered losses following the company’s recent ASX announcements relating to material write-downs in asset valuations and restatements of prior year financial results. The class action alleges that Big Foods contravened its continuous disclosure obligations by failing to keep the market informed of price-sensitive information relevant to its FY20 and historic financial performance, and further that it made statements to the market which were misleading. The class action also alleges that auditor Sally engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in making statements regarding the financial accounts of Big Foods throughout the claim period. Sally had also identified significant irregularities in the company’s accounts going back a number of years as part of the 2020 financial report issued on 30 November. It is alleged Sally had devised an auditing strategy that treated substantial expenditures incurred by Big Foods as capital assets enabling them to report steadily growing profits instead of a huge loss.

Explain how and why managers horizon and risk aversion problems may provide an explanation of the above details about the class actions.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

It is possible that the managers of Big Foods may have been suffering from horizon and risk aversion ... View the full answer