Every Listed Company under Clause 41 of the Listing Agreement
is required to furnish unaudited quarterly results on a quarterly basis in the
prescribed format to the concerned Stock Exchanges within forty five days of the
end of the quarter. Under the Amended Clause 41, listed companies have been
given the option to furnish either audited or unaudited results within
forty-five days from the end of the respective quarter (other than the last
quarter). Thus, Companies which are ready with audited financial results within
forty five days after the end of the respective quarter will be able to disclose
such results without bothering to first disclose unaudited results. However, the
audited results shall be accompanied by the audit report. The following relevant
provisions should be noted:
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The company shall
intimate to the Stock Exchange (normally through Fax, e-mail etc.) within 15
minutes of the closure of the Board meeting in which the unaudited/audited
financial results are placed.
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Further the
company shall publish within 48 hours of the said meeting the unaudited/audited
results in the prescribed format in at least one national English newspaper
and one Regional language daily newspaper.
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The Board of
Directors or its sub-committee should take on record the un-audited/audited
quarterly results, which shall be signed by Managing Director/Director. The
Audit Committee which comprises mostly of independent directors need to review
the results before the same is taken up by the board.
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The company shall
inform the Stock Exchange where its securities are listed about the date of
the Board Meeting at least 7 days in advance and shall also issue immediately
a press release in at least one national English newspaper and one regional
language newspaper about the date of the aforesaid Board or its sub-committee
meeting.
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The company will
furnish segment wise revenue, results and capital employed along with the
quarterly unaudited financial results with effect from quarters ending on or
after September 30, 2001 as per the prescribed format.
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In case of change
of name of the company, the new activity of business, turnover and the income
from the said new activity shall be separately disclosed for a period of three
years from the date of such change.
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The quarterly
report should be prepared on the basis of accrual accounting policy and in
accordance with the uniform accounting practices adopted for all quarters.
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Where the company
opts to furnish unaudited financial results, there is a provision to provide
explanation for variation between items of unaudited and audited
quarterly/year to date/annual results if such variation exceeds a particular
limit. This provision has been simplified in the revised clause 41.
Accordingly, now the listed companies are required to provide explanation for
variation between items of unaudited and audited quarterly/year to date/annual
results only in respect of net profit or loss after Tax and for
exceptional/extraordinary items instead of providing explanation for variation
in any of the items in the proforma as exited earlier. Further, the regulator
has mandated that such variation should not be more than 10% or Rs. 10 lakh
whichever is higher in place of earlier stipulation of 20% or more.
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The company will
have the option to publish consolidated quarterly results in addition to the
unaudited quarterly results of the parent company.
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The quarterly
unaudited results are subject to limited review by the Statutory Auditors of
the company, to be submitted within 45 days from end of the quarter.
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In respect of the
half yearly results, if the company intimates in advance to the Stock
Exchange/s that it will publish audited half yearly financial results within
two months of the close of the half year then in such a case unaudited results
and limited review need not be published/given to the stock exchange/s.
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As a part of its
audited or unaudited financial results for the half-year, the company shall
also submit by way of a note, a statement of assts and liabilities as at the
end of the half-year.
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In respect of
results for the last quarter of the financial year, if the company intimates
in advance to the stock exchange/s that it will publish audited results within
a period of 60 days from the end of the last quarter of the financial year, in
such a case unaudited results for the last quarter need not be published/given
to the Stock Exchange/s. The intimation of the decision to submit audited
results should be send within 45 days from the end of the quarter.
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However, when a
company opts to submit un-audited financial results for the last quarter of
the financial year, it shall, submit a statement of assets and liabilities as
at the of financial year only along with the audited financial results for the
entire financial year, as soon as they are approved by the Board.
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The manufacturing
and trading/services companies which have followed functional (secondary)
classification of expenditure in the Annual Profit & Loss Account in their
most recent Annual report may furnish results on a quarterly basis in this
alternative format.
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In case the
company has subsidiaries and it opts to submit consolidated financial result
as mentioned at (e) above, it may submit the consolidated financials as per
the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) notified by the
International Accounting Standards Board.
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The company shall
ensure that the limited review/audit reports submitted to the stock exchanges
on a quarterly/annual basis shall be given only by an auditor who has
subjected himself to the peer review process of Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India (ICAI) and holds a valid certificate issued by the Peer
Review Board of the ICAI.
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For detailed
information and alternative format and format for submitting quarterly results
by banks, please refer to Circular No. SEBI/CFD/DIL/LA/3/2007/10/07 DATED JULY
10, 2007 and Circular No. SEBI/CFD/DIL/LA/2009/3/2 DATED FEBRUARY 3, 2009 of
SEBI. The same is available on the website of SEBI i.e., sebi.gov.in