The focus of the author's research is on the directors' (managers') liability for fraudulent and wrongful trading. On that account, the paper encapsulates the major mandatory duties of directors, prescribed by the statutory rules of the Serbian Business Enterprise Act (BEA), the Insolvency Act, and other statutes. The breaches of those duties are offenses and misdemeanors which are prejudicial to the public interest (i.e. the interests of the suppliers, workers, consumers, society as a whole). Analysing the pertinent statutory provisions, the author draws attention to the important downside of the BEA - the lack of the comprehensive procedural and institutional mechanism for the administration of the 'PIL' - public interest liquidation, i.e. public interest winding-up. The author's comments and suggestions, presented in the paper, are in line with her espousal of the principles of the rule of law and of the socially responsible corporate governance. However, she concludes that the strictness of the law-abiding principle is not an end in itself. It has a much broader implication and the judge must be able to apply a 'balancing approach', i.e. a rule of reason, in order to avoid stifling the necessary business risk associated with entrepreneurship.