Guidance on Electronic Filing of Financial Statement Audit

Minakshi Bindhani

21 Mar, 2023

A company’s statements must be filed with the registrar along with Form AOC-4 annually for each Financial Year, which means the period ends on the 31st day of March every year. However, an application made by a company, firm or corporate body, a  subsidiary or holding of a company incorporated outside India followed a different financial year to consolidate its accounts outside India. The Tribunal allowed any period as its financial year.
Rule 12 of Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014, requires that every company files statements with the registrar in e-Form AOC-4 and Consolidated statements in e- Form AOC-4 CFS. It further states that the Central Government may occasionally notify such a class of companies that e-form is mandatorily filed their financial statement in XBRL format.

Applicability of Form AOC-4 XBRL

XBRL stands for “extensible business reporting language”. Ministry of Corporate Affairs, directed to filing various reports by the companies, introduced Companies (Filing of documents and forms in extensible business reporting language) Rules, 2015.

As per Rule 3, the companies filed their statements and documents under section 137 of the Act before the registrar in e-Form AOC-4 XBRL on the 1st day of April 2014, namely:

• All companies listed with any Stock Exchanges in India.
• All companies paid-up capital worth rupees five crores or above
• All companies having turnover exceed of rupees hundred crores.
• All companies which were covered under the Companies (Filing of documents & forms in extensible business reporting language) Rules, 2011

Therefore, companies coming under the set criteria stated under Companies (Filing of documents & Forms in Extensible Business Reporting Language) Rules, 2015,  filed their financial statements and other relevant documents in e-form AOC-4 XBRL, and the rest of the companies may continue filing their statements in AOC-4 and AOC-4 CFS as the case may be. However, according to the proviso to Rule 3, companies in the banking, power sector, insurance, housing finance companies, and non-banking financial companies are exempted from XBRL filing.

Furthermore, AOC-4 CFS is the e-form for the companies required to prepare consolidated statements per the provisions of  129 (3) of the Companies Act, 2013.

Checklist for Filling Out E-Form AOC-4

The e-Form AOC-4 is described below:

INFORMATION AND PARTICULARS IN RESPECT OF THE BALANCE SHEET

• General information about the company for verification
• Check the memorandum of association for authorized capital.
• Check the register of members.
• Check the company’s corporate identity number (CIN) allotted by the Registrar of Companies (ROC^[1]).
• The website address of the company must be correct.
• Filing of this form is allowed only for financial years starting on or after the 1st day of April 2014, as provided under the companies act 2013.
• Check the register of directors.
• Check the online portal for the membership number of the company secretary.
• The copy of the notice of the Annual General Meeting and minutes of the Annual General Meeting (AGM)
• Check the register of company members to identify the holding company and shares held by that company (holding company).
• Check the company’s investment register for the relevant period to determine the percentage and number of shares held by the company in other companies.
• Check the register of other company members for cross-verification of the Holdings and Subsidiaries of the company.
• Check the auditor’s report and the contract with the auditor, and Form ADT-1 for details relating to the statutory auditor.
• Check whether the company has any subsidiary or associate company to consolidate accounts.
• Check the signed copy statement & Directors’ report to verify the signature of the director and auditor who have signed such documents.

Points for Verification

• Verify the figures of Balance Sheet items from the audited balance sheet.
• Check whether the provisions of section-73 to section-76 of the Companies Act.
• Check whether the provisions of section -185/186 of the Act comply concerning loans and advances made by the company.
• Check the company’s credit Ratings.
• Check the register of members for filling the paid-up capital held by foreign companies in financial parameters.
• Check the register of deposits for filling in the details of deposits accepted, renewed, matured etc., in the financial parameters.
• Check the shelf prospectus and the attached information memorandum.
• Check that allotment against public issues of securities is in dematerialized form.
• Check provisions of the company’s Articles of Association (AOA), i.e., bonus shares, Right shares, buyback of shares, etc.
• The company’s net worth to be filled in financial parameters is calculated from audited balance sheet figures by Section 2(57) of the Act.
• Check the fixed asset register for filling in the figures of Gross fixed assets and depreciation/amortization in the financial parameters.

Disclosure of Related Party Transactions

Disclosure of particulars of contracts entered by the company with other parties mentioned in sub-section(1) of section 188 of the Act, 2013. The company is required to disclose this information only when the company enters into seven transactions mentioned in 188(1) (a) to (g).

Auditor’s Report

In the case of a Govt. company, the Controller and Auditor General of India has supplemented the audit report under section 143 of Companies Act, 2013.

• Various other attachments are required to be uploaded with form AOC-4
• Copy of statements duly signed as per section 134
• Financial statement of subsidiaries as per section 129, Form AOC-1.
• Approval letter of extension of the financial year
• Supplementary audit report under section 143.
• Company CSR policy per sub-section (4) of section 135.
• Secretarial audit report.
• Directors’ report per sub-section (3) of section 134.

Conclusion

The guidance note intends to explain various features relating to financial statements under the Companies Act 2013. It is intended to guide the professionals in filing Form-AOC-4. A company’s statements include a balance sheet, profit and loss account, cash flow statements, and other explanatory notes.

Also Read:
What is Financial Statement Analysis?
Basic Concepts of Financial Statement Audit