Accounting and Financial Reporting for Secretaries
What is tested
Accounting and reporting tests the secretary's role in preparing, approving and lodging financial statements: the reporting framework, components, directors' report, statements and deadlines.
Core rules
- Private entities generally apply MPERS; public-listed companies and entities with public accountability apply MFRS. The framework must be applied consistently.
- A complete set includes the statement of financial position, statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity, statement of cash flows, notes and comparatives.
- The directors' report covers principal activities, dividends, reserves, directors, auditors, indemnities and related party disclosures.
- The financial statements are approved by the board and accompanied by the statement by directors and a statutory declaration by a director or officer primarily responsible for the financial management.
- Audit exemption for eligible private companies (dormant, zero-revenue or within SSM's small-company thresholds) removes the audit, not the duty to prepare and lodge accounts.
- Circulate within six months of year end; lodge within 30 days of circulation.
Worked example
An audit-exempt private company with a 31 December 2024 year end must still prepare MPERS financial statements, a directors' report, a statement by directors and a statutory declaration. It circulates them by 30 June 2025 and lodges them within 30 days. The secretary checks that the dates on the statements and declaration are consistent and not earlier than the board approval date.
Traps
Treating audit exemption as a filing exemption; signing the statement by directors before the accounts are complete; omitting comparatives; ignoring subsequent events; using MFRS when MPERS applies; mismatched dates on approvals.