A Complete Guide on Filing of AOC 4 Form

To ensure accountability, good governance, and transparency of a company towards its stakeholders, it is mandatory that proper disclosures of its annual financials, board’s report, and auditors’ report are made. These financials act as a medium of clear communication between the Board of Directors and a company’s shareholders. Form AOC 4 and MGT 7 are one of such annual compliances through which a company files its financial statements and annual return for each financial year with the Registrar of Companies (ROC).

This article is primarily focused on presenting, in a succinct manner – what is AOC 4, the due date of AOC 4, fees for filing/late filing, format, and more.

Annual filing of financial statements (AOC 4 MCA)

Every company needs to file its financial statements with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) in Form AOC 4 on an annual basis. The consolidated financial statements of the company, if any, need to be filed in Form AOC 4 CFS.

Certain classes of companies notified by the Central Government are mandatorily required to file their financial statements in Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format.

XBRL is a standardized language for electronic communication to convey, record, or file financial information by businesses.

Further, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) which are required to operate in compliance with Ind AS shall file their annual financial statements in Form AOC 4 NBFC (Ind AS) and consolidated financial statements, if any, in Form AOC 4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS).

This is in accordance with Rule 12 of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014.

E-form AOC 4 XBRL

The following classes of companies must file their financial statements in XBRL format through Form AOC 4 XBRL:

Listed companies in India and their Indian subsidiaries
Companies with paid-up capital of Rs. 5 crores or more
Companies with a turnover of Rs. 100 crores or more
Companies which are to follow Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 while preparing their financial statements

Clarification: NBFCs, housing finance companies, and companies engaged in the business of banking and insurance are exempted from submitting the form in XBRL format.

Once a company falls under the above criteria, it has to invariably file its financials in XBRL format every year, even though it does not meet the said criteria in the succeeding years.

This is in accordance with Rule 3 of the Companies (Filing of Documents and Forms in XBRL) Rules, 2015.

AOC 4 due date

The due date of filing AOC 4 is within 30 days of the date of the annual general meeting of the company in which the financial statements have been duly adopted. Under the normal scenario, this form must be filed latest by the 30^th of October of the relevant financial year.

If the financial statements remain unadopted in the annual general meeting or the meeting is adjourned, then such unadopted financial statements also need to be provisionally submitted within 30 days to the ROC. After their adoption in the adjourned AGM, they need to be filed again to the ROC within 30 days of such adjourned AGM, along with fee/additional fee.

AGM not held:

If the AGM of a company has not been held, the financial statements need to be filed with the ROC within 30 days of the last date before which such AGM should have been held (i.e., the due date of holding AGM). However, a statement of facts and reasons for not holding the AGM should also be annexed.

The due date for One Person Company:

As One Person Company is exempt from holding an annual general meeting, it needs to file its financial statements duly adopted by its member within 180 days from the closure of the financial year.

This is in accordance with Section 137(1) and (2) of the Companies Act 2013.

Fees for AOC 4 form

Following the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014, the fees for filing AOC 4 is as follows:

Fee for filing (in case of a company having a share capital)

Nominal Share Capital	Fee applicable
Less than 1,00,000	Rupees 200
1,00,000 to 4,99,999	Rupees 300
5,00,000 to 24,99,999	Rupees 400
25,00,000 to 99,99,999	Rupees 500
1,00,00,000 or more	Rupees 600

Fee for filing (in case of a company not having a share capital)

Rupees 200

An additional fee applicable on any delay in filing AOC 4 is as follows:

Period of delays	Fee applicable
Up to 30 days	2 times of normal fees
More than 30 days and up to 60 days	4 times of normal fees
More than 60 days and up to 90 days	6 times of normal fees
More than 90 days and up to 180 days	10 times of normal fees
More than 180 days	12 times of normal fees

However, in case the period within which AOC 4 was required to be submitted expires after 30/06/2018, the additional fee for delay in filing is Rs. 100 per day.

AOC 4 format

The form for filing financial statements and other documents with the Registrar can be downloaded from this link.

Form AOC-4

The form for filing consolidated financial statements and other documents with the Registrar can be downloaded from here.

Form AOC-4 CFS

The form for filing financial statements and other documents with the Registrar for NBFCs can be downloaded from this link.

Form AOC-4 NBFC (Ind AS)

The form for filing consolidated financial statements and other documents with the Registrar for NBFCs can be downloaded from this link.

Form AOC-4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS)

The form for filing the XBRL document in respect of financial statements and other documents with the Registrar can be downloaded from here.

Form AOC-4 XBRL

Signing

The e-form AOC-4 needs to be digitally signed by the director/manager/secretary/CFO/CEO of the company along with a declaration to the effect that the information stated in the form and the attachments thereto are true, correct, and complete and that all the requirements of the Companies Act, 2013 and the rules made thereunder have been complied with.

For this purpose, the following should be stated:

Director identification number of the director; or
PAN of the manager or CEO or CFO; or
Membership number of the Secretary

Certification

The e-form AOC-4 filed by companies (other than in the case of OPC and Small Company) has to be pre-certified by a Chartered Accountant or a Company Secretary or a Cost Accountant, who is in whole-time practice.

Some of the details to be mentioned in the form are as follows:

Corporate identity number (CIN) of the company
Name and address of the registered office of the company
E-mail id of the company
Due date of AGM; whether any extension for the financial year or AGM is granted
Date of the board meeting in which standalone/consolidated financial statements were approved
Details of directors, manager, secretary, CEO, and CFO of the company who have signed the standalone/consolidated financial statements
Details of auditors signing the financial statements
Detailed Balance sheet items
Important financial parameters – Balance sheet items as on financial year-end date
Share capital raised during the reporting period
Information and particulars in respect of standalone/consolidated profit and loss account
Important financial parameters – Profit and loss account items during the reporting period
Details of remark(s) made by auditors and applicability of CARO, 2015
Details of applicability of secretarial audit
Whether detailed disclosures concerning Directors’ report under section 134(3) are attached

Attachments to financial statements

AOC-4 has to be accompanied by the following documents that need to be attached:

Standalone/consolidated financial statements duly authenticated by the Board of Directors as per Section 134 (including the board’s report, auditors’ report, and other documents)
Statement of subsidiaries/associate companies/joint ventures as per section 129 – Form AOC-1
Accounts of subsidiary or subsidiaries which have been incorporated outside India, even though the said financial statements are unaudited.
Statement of the facts and reasons for not adopting balance sheet in the annual general meeting (AGM)
Statement of the facts and reasons for not holding the AGM
Approval letter of extension of financial year or AGM
Company’s CSR policy as per section 135(4)
Supplementary or test audit report under section 143

Penalty for non-filing AOC 4

Company

Where there is a default in filing of AOC 4 as per the aforesaid provisions, the company is penalized with Rs. 10,000 and a further penalty of Rs. 100 is also imposed for each day during which such failure continues (subject to a maximum of Rs. 2 lac).

Officers

Where there is a default in filing of AOC 4, the managing director and Chief Financial Officer of the company,

any other director who is accorded with the responsibility of complying with the provisions of Section 137 (in the absence of MD and CFO),

all the directors of the company (in the absence of any designated directors as such),

are penalized with Rs. 10,000 and a further penalty of Rs. 100 is also imposed for each day during which such failure continues (subject to a maximum of Rs. 50,000).

This is in accordance with Section 137(3) of the Companies Act 2013.

Key takeaways

Hope the information provided above proves helpful to you!