Australia: Are you required to submit ASIC form 388?

As AFSL holders think about their annual audit and ensuring financial reports are lodged on time, it's important to consider whether your company falls within ASIC's list of company types which are required to submit a Form 388 along with the FS70 and FS71.

Entities Required to Submit

Entities which are required to submit a Form 388 include:

• Small Proprietary foreign-controlled companies;
• Large Proprietary companies which are not disclosing entities;
• Public companies or disclosing entities;
• Registered Schemes; and
• Trusts which are disclosing entities.

Large proprietary companies are defined as "large" for a financial year if it satisfies at least 2 of the below criteria:

• the consolidated revenue for the financial year of the company and any entities it controls is $50 million or more;
• the value of the consolidated gross assets at the end of financial year of the company and its controlled entities is $25 million;
• the company and its controlled entities have 100 or more employees.

Timeframes for Lodgement

If you are required to submit Form 388, ensure your auditor is aware of this obligation to ensure it is submitted within the required timeframe. Forms submitted out of time will incur hefty late fees.

Background

Form 388 collects the following information:

• financial details of large proprietary companies (where applicable);
• information about the Auditor Report;
• details of the entity's current auditor; and
• copies of the entity's financial statements.

Further Information

Most of ASIC's forms can be lodged online including:

• Form 388;
• FS70; and
• FS71.