Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908

113Powers and duties of auditors.

(1)Every auditor of a company shall have a right of access at all times to the books and accounts and vouchers of the company, and shall be entitled to require from the directors and officers of the company such information and explanation as may be necessary for the performance of the duties of the auditors.

(2)The auditors shall make a report to the shareholders on the accounts examined by them, and on every balance sheet laid before the company in general meeting during their tenure of office, and the report shall state—

(a)whether or not they have obtained all the information and explanations they have required ; and

(b)whether, in their opinion, the balance sheet referred to in the report is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and correct view of the state of the company's affairs according to the best of their information and the explanations given to them, and as shown by the books of the company.

(3)The balance sheet shall be signed on behalf of the board by two of the directors of the company or, if there is only one director, by that director, and the auditors' report shall be attached to the balance sheet, or there shall be inserted at the foot of the balance sheet a reference to the report, and the report shall be read before the company in general meeting, and shall be open to inspection by any shareholder.

Any shareholder shall be entitled to be furnished with a copy of the balance sheet and auditors' report at a charge not exceeding sixpence for every hundred words.

(4)If any copy of a balance sheet which has not been signed as required by this section is issued, circulated, or published, or if any copy of a balance sheet is issued, circulated, or published without either having a copy of the auditors' report attached thereto or containing such reference to that report as is required by this section, the company, and every director, manager, secretary, or other officer of the company who is knowingly a party to the default, shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

(5)In the case of a banking company registered after the fifteenth day of August eighteen hundred and seventy-nine—

(a)if the company has branch banks beyond the limits of Europe, it shall be sufficient if the auditor is allowed access to such copies of and extracts from the books and accounts of any such branch as have been transmitted to the head office of the company in the United Kingdom; and

(b)the balance sheet must be signed by the secretary or manager (if any), and where there are more than three directors of the company by at least three of those directors, and where there are not more than three directors by all the directors.