Companies (Amendment) Act, 1986

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General provisions in relation to accounts.

3.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, every balance sheet and profit and loss account of a company laid before an annual general meeting of the company, pursuant to section 148 of the Principal Act, shall comply with the following requirements and section 149 (other than subsection (5) and, in so far as it relates to the said subsection (5), subsection (7)) of that Act shall not apply to any such balance sheet or profit and loss account:

(a) every such balance sheet and profit and loss account shall comply with the provisions of sections 4 and 5 of, and the Schedule to, this Act,

(b) every such balance sheet of a company shall give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of its financial year and every such profit and loss account of a company shall give a true and fair view of the profit or loss of the company for the financial year,

(c) where a balance sheet or profit and loss account drawn up in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection would not provide sufficient information to comply with paragraph (b) of this subsection, any necessary additional information shall be provided in that balance sheet or profit and loss account or in a note to the accounts,

(d) where, owing to special circumstances, the preparation of accounts of a company in compliance with the said paragraph (a) would prevent those accounts from complying with paragraph (b) (even if additional information were provided under paragraph (c) of this subsection), the directors of the company shall depart from the requirements of the Schedule to this Act in preparing those accounts insofar as is necessary in order to comply with that paragraph,

(e) where the directors of a company depart from the requirements of this section, they shall attach a note to the accounts of the company giving details of the particular departures made, the reasons therefor and the effect of those departures on the accounts,

and, accordingly, in the Companies Acts, 1963 to 1982, and the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983 , in relation to a company to which this Act applies—

(i) references to the said section 149 shall be construed as references to subsection (5) and, in so far as it relates to the said subsection (5), subsection (7) of the said section 149 and to the provisions of this Act corresponding to the other provisions of the said section 149, and

(ii) references to the Sixth Schedule shall be construed as references to the corresponding provisions of this Act.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the profit and loss account of a company if—

(a) the company has subsidiaries, and

(b) the profit and loss account is framed as a consolidated profit and loss account dealing with all or any of the company's subsidiaries as well as the company, and—

(i) complies with the requirements of this Act relating to consolidated profit and loss accounts, and

(ii) shows how much of the consolidated profit or loss for the financial year concerned is dealt with in the accounts of the company.

(3) Where, in the case of a company, advantage is taken of subsection (2) of this section, that fact shall be disclosed in a note to the group accounts.

(4) Subsection (1) (b) of this section overrides the requirements of sections 4 and 5 of, and the Schedule to, this Act and all other requirements of the Companies Acts, 1963 to 1986, as to the matters to be included in the accounts of a company or in notes to those accounts; and, accordingly, where a balance sheet or profit and loss account of a company drawn up in accordance with those requirements would not provide sufficient information to comply with the said subsection (1) (b), any necessary additional information shall be provided in that balance sheet or profit and loss account or in a note to the accounts.