Form AOC 4 Filing - Due Date, Fees & Penalty

Accountability of the company to the stakeholders is mandatory and is done via Financial Statements, disclosures, Board’s report and the Auditor’s report. The main means of communication between the Board of Directors and the shareholders is through the financial statements. Form AOC 4 is used to file the financial statements for each financial year with the Registrar of Companies (ROC). In the case of consolidated financial statements, the company shall file the AOC 4 CFS.

Who has to file AOC 4?

• Every company should file financial statements along with Form AOC 4.
• Every Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) required to comply with the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) should file the financial statements with Form AOC 4 NBFC (Ind AS) and the consolidated financial statement, if any, with Form AOC 4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS).
• Every company covered under the Section 135(1) of the Companies Act, 2013 should furnish a report on Corporate Social Responsibility in Form CSR-2 for the preceding financial year (2020-2021) and onwards as an addendum to Form AOC 4 or AOC 4 XBRL or AOC 4 NBFC (Ind AS), as the case may be. However, for the financial year 2021-2022, Form CSR-2 can be filed separately on or before 31st March, 2023 after filing Form AOC 4 or AOC 4 XBRL or AOC 4 NBFC (Ind AS), as the case may be.
• Where the companies are covered under the XBRL requirement under the Companies (Filing of documents & Forms in Extensible Business Reporting Language) Rules, 2015, the financial statements should be uploaded in the XBRL format. The following class of companies should file their financial statements and other documents in e-Form AOC 4 XBRL:
  • All companies listed with any stock exchange in India and their Indian subsidiaries.
  • All companies with a capital of 5 crores or above.
  • All companies with a turnover of 100 crores or more.
  • All companies required to prepare their financial statements in accordance with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015

As per the Companies Act 2013, the following provisions are applicable for filing the financial statements with the ROC :

Under normal circumstances, 30 days from the last date when the AGM should have been held would be 29th October. This means Form AOC 4 should be filed latest by October 29th of the relevant Assessment year.

Importance of Filing AOC 4

Financial Statements are formal records of the financial operations and position of the Company. The financial statements provide the true affairs of a business to shareholders and investors. The basic objective of financial statements is to provide information about the financial health, growth and modifications in a company’s financial position that will be useful to a wide range of stakeholders in making business decisions.

Financial statements prepared and filed annually are the most important means of communication by the Board of Directors with its shareholders. Mandatory disclosures through financial statements including the Board’s Report and Auditor’s Report is a method of providing information to the shareholders and the public about the financial activities and position of the company.

Financial statements are useful to all stakeholders, investors and financial institutions as they provide the true position of the company and help to make informed decisions. 
 

Points to remember while filing AOC 4

Points to be considered while filing Form AOC 4:

• Segment I- Information and Particulars in respect of Balance sheet (Part A)
• The CIN of the company needs to be entered. The same can be found here either by using the company’s registration number or company name.
• On clicking the pre-fill button, the name, registered office, email ID and date of incorporation will be automatically filled. If there is a change in the email ID then the same can be updated. The authorised capital and the number of members as on the date of filing will also be pre-filled.
• Start date and end date of the financial year is to be entered.
• Date of the Board of Directors’ meeting in which the financial statements and Boards’ report are approved has to be entered.
• Date of signing of reports on the financial statements by the auditors has to be entered.
• Details regarding whether the AGM was held and if yes date of AGM shall be entered.
• If the company is a subsidiary the particulars of the holding company has to be entered and if the company is a holding company the particulars of the subsidiary company has to be entered. The applicable provision of The Companies Act, 2013 on the basis of which it became a subsidiary has to be entered.
• Particulars of the auditor such as Name, membership number of the auditor/auditor’s firm’s registration number and address has to be filled in.
• The type of company and the applicability of Schedule III of The Companies Act 2013 has to be filled in correctly.
• Matters pertaining to the applicability of consolidated financial statements and the maintaining of books in the electronic form needs to be mentioned.
• Segment I- Information and Particulars in respect of Balance sheet (Part B)
• Part B consists of various details with regard to the balance sheet and the financial parameters of the balance sheet. This needs to be entered as well.
• Segment II- Information and Particulars in respect of Profit & Loss Account
• The detailed Profit & Loss Account and the financial parameters have to be filled in this segment.
• Segment III- Reporting of Corporate Social Responsibility
• Applicability of CSR as per Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 and the rules have to be mentioned along with the turnover and net worth.
• Average Net profit of the company for the last three financial years in Rupees requires to be mentioned.
• Prescribed CSR expenditure is 2% of the average net profit of the company for the last three years. This should be mentioned in Rupees.
• Details regarding the spending activity have to be detailed out in the tabular format.
• In case the amount was spent with the assistance of implementing agencies the name address and email address of such agencies has to be mentioned.
• Details pertaining to the ‘Enclosure of Responsibility statement of the CSR committee on implementation and monitoring of CSR policy to the Boards’ report’ has to be given in the positive or negative.

Segment IV- Disclosure about related party transactions

• Particulars of contracts entered on arm’s length basis and those not entered on arm’s length basis has to be given in a detailed manner.

Segment V- Auditor’s Report

• If the CAG has commented/supplemented the audit report under Section 143 of the Companies Act 2013 the same has to be mentioned (Applicable in case of Government Company).
• Details of the adverse remarks made by the auditor and applicability of CARO to the company has to be stated in this segment.

Segment VI- Miscellaneous

• Applicability of secretarial audit and attachment of detailed disclosure with respect to directors’ report under Section 134(3) are the two aspects covered in this section.

To add, various attachments as detailed out in the form have to be attached.

Certifying Form AOC 4

A declaration has to be given by the Director/Manager/Secretary/CEO/CFO certifying that all information provided in the form is true and correct and is in compliance with the law. The form has to be digitally signed along with the DIN of the director or PAN of the Manager/CEO/CFO.

A full-time practising Chartered Accountant/Cost Accountant/ Company Secretary has to provide a declaration stating he/she has verified all the documents attached and he/she certifies all the information to be true, correct and complete. The practising professional has to also state the membership number and the status i.e. fellow or associate.

Fees for filing AOC 4

The applicable fees based on the share capital are as follows:

For Company not having share capital Rupees 200 per document will be the fees.

Late fees on form AOC 4

In case of delay in filing the annual returns/balance sheet/financial statement the following fees is applicable:

Penalty for non-filing AOC 4