Ease your annual return filing procedure of companies with Finaccle.

It is important for all companies to maintain Book of Accounts not only to comply with the law but also to have control over the business.

The Companies Act, 2013 makes it mandatory for all companies to maintain book of accounts in the specified format. Further, in the absence of book of accounts and effective accounting systems, the Directors may not even know as to whether the company is incurring losses or profits.

Filing regulatory filings such as service tax return, VAT return, TDS return, etc., would also be difficult without proper book of accounts. Therefore, it is imperative that the Company maintain proper Book of Accounts with the following information:

• Details of all the monies received and expended by the company and the matter in respect of which the transaction took place;
• All sales and purchases of the company;
• All the assets and liabilities of the company;
• All other financial or business transactions.

A company is required to file three forms with ROC:

ROC Form MGT 7: which contains details of shareholding structure, change in directorship and details of the transfer of shares during the year if any. Due date for ROC Form MGT 7 would be 28th November that is 60 days from the conclusion of AGM.

ROC Form AOC4: which contains details and annexure relating to Balance Sheet of the Company, Profit & Loss Account, Compliance Certificate, Registered Office Address, Register of Member, Shares and Debentures details, Debt details and information about the Management of the Company. The due date for ROC Form AOC 4 would be 29th October i.e. 30 days from the conclusion of the AGM.

ROC Form ADT 1: is filed for auditor appointment. The due date for ROC Form ADT 1 would be 14th October i.e within 15 days from the conclusion of AGM.

Every Company must appoint its first Auditor within one month of the registration of the company. Any person who is a qualified Chartered Accountant in practice, or a firm of Chartered Accountants can be appointed as the Auditors of the Company. However, the following persons / entities cannot be appointed as Auditor of a Company:

• A body corporate;
• An officer or employee of the company (irrespective of if he/she is a qualified Chartered Accountant);
• a person who is a Partner or Director of the company;
• A person who is in whole time employment elsewhere; and many more

It is important to remember that the Auditor of the Company must be independent and not having bias towards the company.

An Annual General Meeting is a meeting of the shareholders of a Company held every year. Companies Act, 2013 mandates that all company except One Person Company hold one Annual General Meeting every year.

No company is exempt from this requirement. The date of any Annual General Meeting must be within 15 months from the date of immediately preceding Annual General Meeting. However, for a newly incorporated company, the first Annual General Meeting must be held within 18 months from the date of incorporation of the Company.

At the Annual General Meeting, the audited financial statements of the Company with the Auditor’s Report and Directors Report are placed before the members of the Company. The members of the Company on being satisfied about the financial statements of the Company can adopt the Annual Accounts of the company after due consideration. The financial statements of a company are considered final only after it is approved by the Shareholders of the company in the Meeting.