Ireland · The accounting Schedules

The micro companies regime: Schedule 3B formats, accounting principles, value adjustments and notes

the Companies Act 2014 · Schedule 3B

The micro regime is the shortest set of statements the Act allows, and companies assume that means there is nothing to check. Subject to the provisions of the Schedule, every balance sheet of a company must show the items listed in the format Schedule 3B paragraph 2(1) prescribes, and the profit and loss account must follow the corresponding prescribed format. A micro company that files a trial balance has not filed financial statements.

Where the Schedule leaves the directors a choice, that choice is a decision they must be able to defend. The method chosen must be one which appears to the directors to be appropriate in the circumstances of the company (Schedule 3B paragraph 30(2)). A method carried over from a previous adviser is not a method the directors have chosen.

Schedule 3B sets the formats, accounting principles, value adjustments and notes for a company qualifying for the micro companies regime. The regime is available only to a company that meets the qualifying conditions set under Part 6, and a company that ceases to meet them moves to the small companies regime or to the full Schedule 3 requirements.

Because the micro regime carries the fewest notes, the accuracy of the figures on the face of the statements carries more weight. The accounting records duty in section 281 and the retention duty in section 285 apply in exactly the same terms as for any other company.

Files 212 and 213 of the IE-COMPANY package cover this situation. File 212 works through the Schedule 3B formats and accounting principles. File 213 works through value adjustments and the notes, including the basis on which the directors chose each method the Schedule leaves open. Both files first confirm, from the passport, that the company qualifies for the micro companies regime.

This situation is covered by these files from the pack IE-COMPANY

• File 212 · Schedule 3B: the micro companies regime, formats and accounting principles
• File 213 · Schedule 3B: the micro companies regime, value adjustments and the notes

ComplianceSME tracks the Companies Act 2014 and issues update files through the membership, so that you are never working from a superseded version. Membership

• Forming a private company limited by shares
• Company names, name changes and misleading trading names
• The registered office, the company seal and delivery of documents to the Registrar
• Issuing shares, calls, lien and financial assistance
• Altering company capital and varying class rights
• Transferring shares, transmission on death and share certificates
• Buying back own shares, treasury shares and cross-holdings
• Paying a dividend and making a bonus issue
• Company registers, the register of members and rights of inspection
• Holding a general meeting: notice, quorum, proxies and voting
• Written resolutions of members and registering resolutions
• Using the Summary Approval Procedure
• Appointing directors and the secretary, and the EEA-resident director rule
• Removing a director, electing a director and paying directors
• Board meetings, written resolutions of directors and the audit committee
• Directors' duties, shadow directors and the compliance statement
• Declaring an interest, loans to directors and substantial transactions
• Notifying interests in shares and debentures and keeping the register
• Company size, the financial year and accounting records
• Preparing entity and group financial statements
• Disclosing directors' remuneration, loans and other transactions
• Notes on related undertakings, staff numbers, capital and financial assistance
• Approving and signing the financial statements and the directors' report
• The audit requirement, the audit exemption and the dormant company exemption

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