COVID-19: Update on Company Accounts and AGMs
24 Mar 2020
Company Accounts Extensions
At midnight on 24 March 2020 the Government announced that Businesses will be given an additional 3 months to file accounts with Companies House to help them avoid penalties as they deal with the impact of COVID-19.
This means that from 25 March 2020, BFPA members will be able to apply for a 3-month extension for filing their accounts.
This joint initiative between the government and Companies House is designed to give companies some breathing space whilst they deal with the most recent COVID-19 Government policies.
For your interest, there are approximately 4.3 million businesses on the Companies House register, and all companies must submit their accounts and reports each year. As you are no doubt aware, under normal circumstances, companies that file accounts late are issued with an automatic penalty.
As part of the agreed measures, while companies will still have to apply for the 3-month extension to be granted, those citing issues around COVID-19 will be automatically and immediately granted an extension. Applications can be made through a fast-tracked online system which will take (I am told), just 15 minutes to complete. The guidance on how to apply for the extension is pretty clear and comprehensive on the web page:- www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-more-time-to-file-your-companys-accounts
What about AGM’s?
In addition, the government is also in close consultation with company representative bodies, legal practitioners and others, to look at solutions for the impact that COVID-19 may have on a companies’ ability to hold Annual General Meetings. Indeed, this is something that BFPA is looking into with regard to our own AGM which was due to be held on the 13th of May, but given current restrictions is very unlikely to happen then.
We will be in touch with you as regards our BFPA and BFPDA AGMs as soon as possible. Government is claiming that updated guidance on this matter will be published in due course and we will let members know as soon as it appears.
In the meantime please find below a useful document produced jointly by Slaughter & May in conjunction with the Chartered Governance Institute and a number of well-respected supporting organisations including the Financial Reporting Council, GC100, the Investment Association and the Quoted Companies Alliance. BEIS have reviewed the guidance but whilst they were very positive about it they fell just short of formally ‘approving’ it apparently.
We will be in touch with you as soon as possible with details of the 2020 AGM arrangements – watch this space!
Any questions, please contact Chris Buxton chrisbuxton@bfpa.co.uk