Changing your balance date

An entity may, upon written application, change its financial reporting balance date.  In some instances approval from the Registrar may be required before such a change can be made.

• Things you should know before making a request

• How to notify the Registrar of a change in balance date

Things you should know before making a request

Prior to making such a request we recommend you refer to the following information regarding balance dates as set out in section 7 of the Financial Reporting Act 1993 (FRA):

1. In this Act, the term balance date in relation to an entity, means the close of the 31st day of March or of such other date as the directors of the entity adopt as the entity's balance date. 
    
2. Subject to subsections (3) and (4) of this section, an entity must have a balance date in each calendar year. 
    
3. An entity need not have a balance date in the calendar year in which it is formed or incorporated if its first balance date is in the following calendar year and is not later than 15 months after the date of its formation or incorporation. 
    
4. If an entity changes its balance date, it need not have a balance date in a calendar year if— 
   1. The period between any two balance dates does not exceed 15 months; and
   2. The Registrar approves the change of balance date before it is made. 
       
5. The Registrar may approve a change of balance date with or without conditions. 
    
6. If an entity changes its balance date, the period between any two balance dates must not exceed 15 months. 
    
7. The board of a reporting entity (not being an issuer) that is a company must ensure that, unless in the board's opinion there are good reasons against it, the balance date of each subsidiary of the company is the same as the balance date of the company. 
    
8. The board of an issuer must ensure that the balance date of the issuer is the same as the balance date of its subsidiaries. 
    
9. Subject to subsection (11) of this section the Registrar may, by notice in writing and subject to such conditions as the Registrar thinks fit, exempt an issuer from subsection (8) of this section either completely or in relation to a subsidiary or a class of subsidiaries. 
    
10. The existence of the exemption must be stated in a note to the consolidated statement of financial position for a group. 
     
11. If the balance date of a subsidiary of a reporting entity is not the same as that of the reporting entity, the balance date of the subsidiary for the purposes of any particular group financial statements must be that preceding the balance date of the reporting entity

How to notify the Registrar of a change in balance date

There are two options available:

Option 1 - Notify the Registrar online

To update or maintain any company details with the Companies Office you need to be logged on as a registered user of the website and have Company Authority for the company.

Step one | Locate the company

From the Online Services - Do It Now menu choose Search for a company.

Find the company by entering some search criteria (for example, either the company name or the company number).

From the Search Results select the company to update.

Step two | Lodge an online request form

On the Company summary tab you will see the current FRA Reporting Month.  To change this select the Edit button then:

• Enter your proposed financial reporting month,
• Provide a reason, or reasons, for changing your financial reporting month in the Comment field, and
• (Optionally) upload a document to support your request.

Select the Submit button to send us your online request.

Note | If you are not able to see the Edit option, you cannot use the online request option - please use Option 2 (below).

Step three | We will email you

Once we have considered your request we will send you an email either:

• confirming that your request has been approved, or
• requesting further information. 

Option 2 - Send your letter of request to the Registrar

Prepare a letter of request to the Registrar of Companies outlining the reason, or reasons, for changing an entity's balance date.

Then either post the letter to:

Companies Office
Northern Business Centre
Private Bag 92061
Victoria Street West
Auckland 1142

or email it to compliance@companies.govt.nz