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Abstract: The use of companies to facilitate corruption, money-laundering and other illicit commercial activities has led to the enactment of new corporate beneficial ownership law in many jurisdictions. Corporate governance transparency law is grounded in transparency theory to promote future ethical investment and indirectly contributes to economic advancement in society. Certain aspects of Québec’s Transparency of Enterprises Act 2023 and the United Kingdom’s Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement Act) 2022 legislation are comparatively analysed in the prevailing business context. The research assesses the public versus private dimension of beneficial ownership information; the implications of French and Welsh language use in each jurisdiction. It also presents a novel interdisciplinary non-legal mathematical mechanism, applying Benford’s Law to make detecting bad corporate actors more effective. The author expects the conclusions will accelerate beneficial ownership transparency enabling Québec and the UK (England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) to maintain their standing as leading jurisdictions in the fight against economic crime.
Keywords: Benford’s Law; bilingualism; corporate beneficial ownership transparency; Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act UK; money laundering; Transparency of Enterprises Act Québec
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