Prescribed Form for Annual Return
Pursuant to section 214(7) of the Companies Act 1993 ("the Act"), the Registrar of Companies gives notice that as from
28 June 2010, the form below may be used for the purpose of section 214(1) of the Act, and the particulars contained therein shall be prescribed as the particulars required under the Act.
Dated this 17th day of June 2010.
NEVILLE HARRIS, Registrar of Companies.
Explanatory Note
The Registrar of Companies has reviewed the existing prescribed form for annual returns filed pursuant to section 214(1) of the Act.
The form currently requires companies to state whether the shareholders passed a unanimous resolution not to appoint an auditor for the current year (pursuant to section 196(2) of the Act) and, if so, to specify the date of the resolution. The Registrar of Companies has ascertained from research carried out on his behalf that the information obtained from this requirement is at risk of being incomplete or incorrect. The vast majority of companies (93%) reported that they had passed the unanimous resolution. Of the remaining 7% of companies which indicated in their annual returns that they had not passed the unanimous resolution, it was unclear whether they were reporting that the shareholders did not reach a unanimous agreement, that the resolution was not put to the shareholders, or that the company had not appointed an auditor.
In an effort to enhance the integrity of information contained on the Companies Register, the revised form therefore removes the two questions dealing with the resolution regarding the appointment of an auditor. There are no other changes to the existing form.
It should be noted that this change to the annual return form does not affect the underlying requirement in section 196 of the Act for all companies to appoint an auditor unless the shareholders have passed a unanimous resolution pursuant to section 196(2) of the Act.