Companies (Amendment) Act, 1986

Provisions in relation to documents delivered to registrar of companies.

18.—(1) A copy of a balance sheet and profit and loss account of a company prepared pursuant to any of the provisions of sections 10 to 12 of this Act and annexed to the annual return required by the Principal Act to be made by the company to the registrar of companies shall be signed as required by section 156 of the Principal Act and the copy of the balance sheet so annexed shall contain the statement required by subsection (2) of this section in a position immediately above the signatures appended pursuant to the said section 156 and shall be accompanied by a copy of the report of the auditors of the company in relation to the accounts of the company under subsection (3) of this section.

(2) A copy of a balance sheet of a company prepared pursuant to any of the provisions of sections 10 to 12 of this Act and annexed to the said annual return shall contain a statement by the directors that—

(a) they have relied on specified exemptions contained in the said sections 10 to 12 , and

(b) they have done so on the ground that the company is entitled to the benefit of those exemptions as a small company or (as the case may be) as a medium-sized company.

(3) A copy of a balance sheet or profit and loss account of a company prepared pursuant to any of the provisions of sections 10 to 12 of this Act which is delivered to the registrar of companies need not be accompanied by the report of the auditors under section 7 (1) (a) of this Act on those accounts, but shall be accompanied by a special report of the auditors containing—

(a) a copy of the report made by the auditors of the company under subsection (4) of this section on those accounts, and

(b) a copy of the report of the auditors under section 163 of the Principal Act.

(4) Where the directors of a company propose to annex to the annual return accounts for any accounting period prepared pursuant to any of the provisions of sections 10 to 12 of this Act and the auditors of the company are satisfied that the directors of the company are entitled, for that purpose, to rely on exemptions specified in sections 10 to 12 of this Act and that the accounts have been properly prepared pursuant to those provisions, it shall be the duty of the auditors of the company to provide the directors of the company with a report in writing stating that, in the opinion of the auditors of the company, the directors of the company are entitled to annex those accounts to the annual return and that the accounts so annexed are properly prepared as aforesaid.

(5) A copy of the report of the auditors of a company under subsection (3) of this section furnished to the registrar of companies pursuant to this section shall be certified both by a director, and the secretary, of the company to be a true copy of such report.