The Companies (Auditing
and Accounting) Act 2004
This
Companies (Auditing and Accounting Act 2004, which is expected to come into
force in early April 2004, will make life a good deal easier for Companies with
a turnover of between 350,000 and 1,500,000.
From the commencement date, companies with an annual turnover of less
than 1,500,000 in any particular accounting year will be exempted from the
legal requirement that they undergo an audit for that year. They will, however, still be required to
prepare satisfactory end of year accounts in the usual way and file them at the
Companies Registration Office with their annual return.
The
act also provides that companies with an annual turnover of more than 15.2M
will be required to file a Directors Statement of Compliance at the Companies
Registration Office. Companies with a
turnover of between 1.5M and 15.2M in a particular year will be exempted from
that requirement, provided that the annual returns of a company are up to date,
the Board of Directors passes a resolution that it intends to avail of this
exemption, and a letter confirming this intention is filed at the Companies
Registration Office. The exemption is
unavailable to subsidiary companies.