ASIC has announced changes to resolution-passing and form-lodging arrangements for companies which are able to take advantage of audit relief under Class Order [CO 98/1417] Audit relief for proprietary companies.

As a result of the changes, resolutions of directors and shareholders dispensing with an audit will still be required to be passed annually, however most companies will only have to lodge notice of the resolutions (Form 382) once when first taking advantage of [CO 98/1417] relief, rather than annually.

Additionally, the period during which resolutions can be passed and Forms 382 lodged has been extended to end on the s319(3) deadline for the relevant financial year, which extends the time to attend to these matters and means ASIC will no longer provide extensions of time to pass the resolutions or lodge the Forms.

There are also requirements for companies which stop using [CO 98/1417] relief to lodge a cessation notice (Form 396) and for companies which start to use relief after having stopped using it to again lodge Form 382, but these requirements will apply to only a small number of companies.

Companies which have already taken advantage of [CO 98/1417] relief for their current financial year, by meeting all the conditions of the order including lodging a Form 382, will not be required to lodge another Form 382 to take advantage of relief for the current or subsequent financial years, provided the conditions of the class order continue to be met.

As many companies are currently turning their attention to whether their financial report for the 30 June 2010 financial year will need to be audited, the changes implemented will immediately reduce the burden on companies in processing applications for extensions of time to lodge Form 382 for the 30 June 2010 financial year under the current arrangements.

These changes are part of ASIC's ongoing efforts to reduce regulatory red-tape and bring the arrangements for [CO 98/1417] into line with the arrangements under two other financial reporting class orders.

The changes are detailed at paragraphs 30 to 45 of the updated version of Regulatory Guide 115 Audit relief for proprietary companies (RG 115).