A “Director” is not generally defined in legislation, but relates to any person occupying the position of director by whatever name called. This can include senior managers, partners, trustees or governors. Conventionally, a director appointed to a company’s board and registered at Companies House is referred to as a De Jure director.
A director will always include non-executive directors who, although not having a role in the company’s day-to-day affairs, have identical responsibilities to the executive directors (i.e. the active directors) in respect of company affairs and duties under the Companies Acts.
Other individuals may also be defined as a director and therefore be subject to the same responsibilities and requirements of ordinary De Jure directors. These generally fall into one of two definitions, either a “Shadow Director” or a “De Facto Director”.
“Shadow Directors” are specifically included within the definition of a director by statute, which describes such persons as, “a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a company are accustomed to act,” although this excludes roles where the directors acted in reliance of an individual acting in a professional capacity (e.g. an accountant). “De Facto Directors” are not generally defined by the legislation but are well recognised in common law as comprising those individuals who act as a director even though not validly appointed as so.
