Signing Of Financial Statement Of Company Under Companies Act, 2013

Sub-section (1) of section 134 of the Act provides for approval and signing of financial statements (as defined in clause (40) of section 2) including consolidated financial statements, if any.

Such approved financial statements will be signed on behalf of the company by the following: a. Chairperson of the company where he is authorized by the Board or by two directors out of which one shall be managing director and the Chief Executive Officer, if he is a director in the company b. the Chief Financial Officer, wherever appointed c. the Company Secretary of the company, wherever appointed.

In this editorial, Author shall discuss about concept of Signing of Financial Statement of Company (OPC, Small, Private, Public, Listed etc). Further, author shall try to answer the following questions:

1. How Many directors must sign the financial statement?

2. Whether, Chairman of Meeting solely sign the Financial Statement?

3. Can an independent Director sign Financial Statement?

4. Do all the directors needs to sign Financial Statement?

5. Whether it is mandatory to get sign Financial Statement from the Company Secretary of the Company?

6. Can financial statement be signed digitally by Directors?

Signing Of Financial Statement Of Company Under Companies Act, 2013

What is Financial Statement?

Section 2 (40) of the companies Act 2013 states that the financial statement includes the following items:

  • Balance sheet;
  • Profit and loss account, or in the case of a nonprofit organization, an income and expenditure account for the financial year
  • Cash flow statement
  • Statement of changes in equity, if any; and
  • Annexure forming part of the Financial Statement

APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Sub-section (1) of section 134 of the Act provides for approval and signing of financial statements (as defined in clause (40) of section 2) including consolidated financial statements, if any. Such approval of financial statement needs to be given in a duly convened board meeting. Such meeting can be held through video conferencing or any other audio-visual means also as provided in rule 4 of the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014.

How to Prepare Financial Statement?

The financial statement of the company shall be prepared in accordance with Schedule III of section 129 of the Companies Act, 2013 and such Financial Statement laid before the shareholders at the Annual general meeting of the company.

SIGNING OF FINANCIAL STATEMENT

i. Chairperson of the company where he is authorized by the Board OR

ii. by two directors out of which one shall be managing director AND

iii. the Chief Financial Officer, wherever appointed c. the Company Secretary of the company, wherever appointed.

PENALTY FOR THE CONTRAVENTION OF THE PROVISION

Penalty is prescribed under Section 134(8) of the Companies Act, 2013,

If a company is in default in complying with the provisions of this section, the company shall be liable to a penalty of three lakh rupees and every officer of the company who is in default shall be liable to a penalty of fifty thousand rupees.

Is it mandatory to sign financial statement from the company secretary?

As per Section 134(1), the company in which the Whole-time Company Secretary is appointed, then it is mandatory that the Financial Statement is signed from the Whole-time Company Secretary. Further if the company appointed Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer then the financial statement shall also be signed from them.

Where the company does not have a CFO and CS then only chairman can sign the financial statement. Where the company does not have a chairperson or not authorized by the board, signing of financial statements by two directors one of which shall be managing director and the CFO, if he is a director.

FAQs

Who is responsible for signing the financial statements?

The financial statements must be signed by the managing director, the whole-time director, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and two other directors of the company, one of whom shall be a non-executive director.

Is it necessary for all directors to sign the financial statements?

No, it is not necessary for all directors to sign. Only the specified directors mentioned in the Companies Act need to sign the financial statements.

Can a director delegate the signing authority?

No, the signing authority cannot be delegated to another person. Each signing director must sign the financial statements personally.

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