Page 17 - Nexia SAB&T Business in South Africa Guide 2024

FINANCIAL REPORTING AND ACCOUNTING

Some Key Provisions of the Companies Act
Section 28: Accounting Records
All companies are legally required to keep, at their registered office, accurate and
complete accounting records in one of the official languages of SA.
Section 29: Financial Statements
All financial statements must comply with the requirements of the Companies
Act. (e.g. must not be false or misleading in any material respect or incomplete
in any material, summaries must be in prescribed format).
Section 30: Annual Financial Statements (AFS)
All companies are required to produce AFS:
■ Within 6 months after the end of their financial year.
■ Must include and auditor’s report if the statements are audited.
■ Must include a report of directors in the prescribed format.
■ Be approved by the board and signed by an authorised director.
■ Be presented to the first shareholders meeting after the statements have
been approved by the board.

The High Court has recently issued court orders in favour of CIPC empowering
them to penalise companies that fail to prepare AFS within 6 months of year
end. The penalty is 10% of turnover during the period which each company
was non-compliant.
Annual General Meeting Requirement
The Companies Act only requires a public company and SOC Ltd to call an
AGM within 18 months of its date of incorporation and thereafter once in every
calendar year, but no more than 15 months of the date of the previous AGM to
present the audited annual financial statements to the shareholders. The Act
does not require a private company to have an AGM. However, the Board is
required to approve the annual financial statements, and these are required to

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