Section 1384A was amended by Section 83 of the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 for periods commencing on or after 1 January 2017 or where the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 has been early adopted (permitted to be early adopted for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2015) then for the period from which the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 has been early adopted.

(1) Section 393 shall apply to a company to which this Part applies, as if—

1. in subsection (1), the following were substituted for “there are reasonable grounds for believing that a category 1 or 2 offence may have been committed by the company or an officer or agent of it,”:“there are reasonable grounds for believing that a category 1 or 2 offence, a serious Market Abuse offence, a Prospectus offence or a serious Transparency offence may have been committed by the company or an officer or agent of it,”, and
2. the following subsection were inserted after subsection (6):

“(7) In this section—

‘serious Market Abuse offence’ means an offence referred to in section 1368;

‘serious Prospectus offence’ means an offence referred to in section 1356;

‘serious Transparency offence’ means an offence referred to in section 1382.

OmniPro Comment

What’s new or different? 

Companies (Accounting) Act 2017:

Provides for a new section placing an obligation on auditors to report to the Director of Corporate Enforcement where the auditor has reasonable grounds that an offence contrary to market abuse, prospectus or transparency law may have been committed

Companies Act 2014:

Not applicable

Impact:

New reporting requirements to the ODCE