Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Partnerships and Unlimited Companies (Accounts) Regulations 1993 (S.I. 1993/1820) (“the 1993 Regulations”).The 1993 Regulations implemented Council Directive 90/605/EEC of 8th November 1990 amending Directive 78/660/EEC on annual accounts (Official Journal No. L222/11 of 14th August 1978) (the Fourth EC Company Law Directive) and Directive 83/349/EEC on consolidated accounts (Official Journal No. L193/1 of 18th July 1983) (the Seventh EC Company Law Directive) as regards the scope of those Directives (Official Journal No. L317/60 of 16th November 1990).
The 1993 Regulations apply to partnerships, each of whose members is either (a) a limited company or (b) an unlimited company or a Scottish firm, each of whose members is a limited company (regulation 3).Members of such “qualifying partnerships” (general partners in the case of limited partnerships) are required by regulation 4 of the 1993 Regulations to prepare accounts and a directors' report, and to obtain an auditors' report, in accordance with the provisions of Part 7 of the Companies Act 1985 (“the 1985 Act”), subject to certain modifications set out in the Schedule to the 1993 Regulations.
Part 7 of the 1985 Act has been amended in particular by the Companies Act 1985 (Miscellaneous Accounting Amendments) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/189), by the Company Accounts (Disclosure of Directors' Emoluments) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/570), by the Companies Act 1985 (International Accounting Standards and Other Accounting Amendments) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/2947) and by the Companies Act 1985 (Operating and Financial Review and Directors' Report etc.) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/1011).These Regulations amend the 1993 Regulations consequentially on those amendments.
Regulation 2 of these Regulations amends regulation 7 of the 1993 Regulations so that the exemption conferred by that regulation extends to where the group accounts are prepared in accordance with international accounting standards. Regulation 3 makes consequential changes to the provisions of the 1985 Act as applied by the Schedule to the 1993 Regulations.
Full regulatory impact assessments of the effect that S.I. 2004/2947 and S.I. 2005/1011, and associated instruments such as these Regulations, will have on the costs of business are available from the Department of Trade and Industry, Corporate Law and Governance Directorate, 5th Floor 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET (they are also available electronically at www.dti.gov.uk/cld).Copies have also been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.