Companies (Accounting) Act 2017

Exemption from filing certain information for small and micro companies

51. The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 352:

“352. (1) The exemption in subsection (2) is available for a company that—

(a) qualifies for the small companies regime (or the micro companies regime), and

(b) has not elected to prepare group financial statements in accordance with section 293.

(2) That exemption is an exemption from the requirement in section 347 to annex to the company’s annual return the following documents:

(a) the statutory financial statements of the company;

(b) the directors’ report (except where that company qualifies for the micro companies regime and has not elected to prepare the directors’ report);

(c) the statutory auditors’ report on those financial statements and that directors’ report.

(3) If a company that qualifies for the small companies regime or the micro companies regime avails itself of the exemption provided by this section, it shall instead annex to its annual return a copy of each of the following documents:

(a) abridged financial statements prepared in accordance with section 353 and which have been approved and signed in accordance with section 355;

(b) a special statutory auditors’ report prepared in accordance with section 356.

(4) A reference in subsection (3) to a copy of a document is a reference to a copy that satisfies the following conditions:

(a) it is a true copy of the original save for the difference that the signature or signatures on the original, and any date or dates thereon, shall appear in typeset form on the copy;

(b) it is accompanied by a certificate of a director and the secretary of the company, that bears the signature of the director and the secretary in electronic or written form, stating that the copy is a true copy of the original (and one such certificate relating to all of the documents mentioned in subsection (3) suffices and the foregoing statement need not be qualified on account of the difference permitted by paragraph (a) as to the form of a signature or of a date).”.