Companies Act 1947

23 Extension of disqualifications for appointment as auditor.

(1) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as auditor of a company unless either—

(a) he is a member of a body of accountants established in the United Kingdom and for the time being recognised for the purposes of this provision by the Board of Trade; or

(b) he is for the time being authorised by the Board of Trade to be so appointed either as having similar qualifications obtained outside the United Kingdom or as having obtained adequate knowledge and experience in the course of his employment by a member of a body of accountants recognised for the purposes of the foregoing paragraph or as having before the passing of this Act practised in Great Britain as an accountant:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply in the case of a private company which at the time of the auditor's appointment is an exempt private company, as defined in subsection (4) of section fifty-four of this Act.

(2) In subsection (1) of section one hundred and thirty-three of the principal Act (which disqualifies, among others, directors and officers of a company and partners and employees of officers of a company from appointment as auditors of the company)—

(a) references to an officer of the company shall include any servant of the company, but not an auditor; and

(b) paragraph (b) (which relates to partners and employees of officers of the company) shall apply in like manner to partners and employees of directors of the company; and

(c) the exception in the said paragraph (b) for private companies shall apply only in the case of a private company which at the time of the auditor's appointment is an exempt private company, as defined in subsection (4) of section fifty-four of this Act.

Nothing in this subsection shall be taken to exclude the application, in relation to the said subsection (1), of the definition of " officer " hereafter contained in this Act.

(3) A person shall also not be qualified for appointment as auditor of any company if he is, by virtue of the said subsection (1), disqualified for appointment as auditor of any other body corporate which is that company's subsidiary or holding company, or a subsidiary of that company's holding company, or would be so disqualified if the body corporate were a company.

(4) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, a Scottish firm shall be qualified for appointment as auditor of a company if, but only if, all the partners are qualified for appointment as auditor thereof.