Commentary Part 15: Accounts and Reports Companies subject to the small companies regime Section 381: Companies subject to the small companies regimeSection 382: Companies qualifying as small: generalSection 383: Companies qualifying as small: parent companiesSection 384: Companies excluded from the small companies regime
637.These sections set out which companies, parent companies or groups fall within the small companies regime – that is, those that qualify as small companies or groups and are not excluded from the regime for one of the reasons set out in section 384. With two small changes, the conditions for qualification as a small company are unchanged from the current regime (sections 247, 247A and 249 of the 1985 Act). Firstly, section 382(5) now contains a generalised definition of balance sheet total for both Companies Act and IAS individual accounts. Secondly, whereas section 247A(2) of the 1985 Act provides that a group is ineligible if any of its members is a body corporate having power to offer its shares or debentures to the public, the reference in section 384(2)(b) is now to a body corporate whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market in an EEA state. The definition of “regulated market” is to be found in section 1173. This reflects changes made by the Accounts Modernisation Directive (2003/51/EEC).