The Act Commentary on Sections Section 77: Amendments reflecting changes in company law audit provisions
258.This section provides the Minister for the Cabinet Office with an order-making power to amend the Charities Act 1993 and this Act to reflect changes in company law.
259.During the passage of the Companies Bill in the 2005-6 Session of Parliament amendments were tabled the effect of which would have been to take small charitable companies out of the company law régime for accounts scrutiny and to place them within the charity law régime. The Government accepted that there was merit in the idea of changing the treatment of small charitable companies so that, as far as their accounts scrutiny was concerned, they would in future be required to comply with the requirements of charity law rather than those of company law. Amendments were made in the Companies Bill (now the Companies Act 2006) to achieve that, but changes are also required in the Charities Act 1993 and this Act. This order-making power will enable those changes to be made.
260.The power also allows for the group accounting requirements to be changed so that, for the preparation of group accounts, a group of charities headed by a charitable company is put in the same position as a group headed by any other form of charity (subsection (1)(b)).
The order-making power in this section is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.