I propose to take Questions Nos. 241 and 242 together.
Companies can have an annual return date of up to 9 months after their financial year end. Thereafter companies have up to 28 days to file their annual return with the Registrar of Companies and up to a further 28 days to file their accompanying financial statements.
These are final deadlines and therefore it is open to companies, and their accountants where they engage such a service, to submit this information at any time before this date. In this way it is possible for companies and their accountants to manage the deadlines facing them with regard to their statutory obligations.
Furthermore, I am proposing to simplify the filing process further in the Companies (Statutory Audits) Bill 2017 by changing the current two-step process to a single step and giving companies up to 56 days to file their annual return and financial statements. This means a company with a 31 December year end can file its annual return and financial statements any time before 26 November.
Where a company makes an application to the Court for extension of time to file an annual return it may include any information it considers is relevant to the application on the affidavit to the Court. It is a matter for the Court to determine the cases brought before it under section 343 of the Companies Act. The Registrar of Companies does not collate information in relation to accountancy practitioners on the basis set out in the Deputy’s question.