The Companies Act 1985 (Audit Exemption) Regulations 1994

Regulation 4

SCHEDULE 1CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS OF ENACTMENTS

PART IAMENDMENTS OF COMPANIES ACT 1985

1.—(1) Section 240 of the 1985 Act(1)(requirements in connection with publication of accounts) shall be amended as follows.

(2) At the end of subsection (1) there shall be added the words “or, as the case may be, the relevant report made for the purposes of section 249A(2)”.

(3) In subsection (3)—

(a)in paragraph (c), after the word “year” there shall be inserted the words “and, if no such report has been made, whether the companys reporting accountant has made a report for the purposes of section 249A(2) on the statutory accounts for any such financial year”,

(b)in paragraph (d), before the word “report” there shall be inserted the word “auditors” and at the end of that paragraph there shall be added the words “or whether any report made for the purposes of section 249A(2) was qualified”, and

(c)at the end of the subsection there shall be added the words “or any report made for the purposes of section 249A(2)”.

2.  In section 245 of the 1985 Act(2) (voluntary revision of annual accounts or directors' report), in subsection (4)(b), after the words “the companys auditors” there shall be inserted the words “or reporting acountant”.

3.  In section 262A of the 1985 Act(3) (index of defined expressions), the following entry shall be inserted at the appropriate place—

4.  In section 384(1) of the 1985 Act (duty to appoint auditors) for the words “dormant company” there shall be substituted the words “certain companies”.

5.  In Schedule 8 to the 1985 Act(4), after paragraph 25 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“Other companies exempt from audit

25A.  Paragraph 24 above does not apply where the company is exempt by virtue of section 249A (certain categories of small companies) from the obligation to appoint auditors.”

PART IIAMENDMENTS OF CHARITIES ACT 1993

6.  In section 45 of the Charities Act 1993(5)(annual reports), in subsection (5), for the words “the auditors report” there shall be substituted the words “any auditors report or report made for the purposes of section 249A(2) of that Act”.

7.  In section 47 of that Act (public inspection of annual reports etc.), in subsection (3) for paragraph (c) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(c)in the case of a charity which is a company, a reference to the most recent annual accounts of the company prepared under Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 in relation to which any of the following conditions is satisfied—

(i)they have been audited

(ii)a report required for the purposes of section 249A(2) of that Act has been made in respect of them; or

(iii)they relate to a year in respect of which the company is exempt from audit by virtue of section 249A(1) of that Act; and”.