14.Company law is a reserved matter and Companies Acts extend to the whole of Great Britain. However, there are several areas where, in legislating about companies, the Act deals with matters that are devolved:
changes (in Part 41) to the regulation of business names (a devolved matter) – these correspond to changes (in Part 5) to the regulation of company names (a reserved matter);
statutory guidance to prosecutors and other enforcement authorities in relation to a new offence of knowingly or recklessly causing an audit report to be misleading, false or deceptive – although the offence itself is a reserved matter, guidance is to be issued by the Lord Advocate in Scotland (see section 509);
changes relating to exemptions from audit requirements for companies that are charities (see section 1175);
conferral of a power on the Auditor General for Scotland to specify public bodies for his audit (see section 483).
These were the subject of a legislative consent motion agreed to by the Scottish Parliament on 16 March 2006.