Companies Act 2006: an update

Somewhere in this blog is a promise to update you all on the subject of the Companies Act 2006. Well, here goes…
After the best part of a decade in the making, the Companies Act 2006 limped its way onto the statute books in November 2006. Its main claim to fame is that it’s the largest piece of legislation to be autographed by a British monarch. In essence, the Act simply codifies existing company legislation (sets it out) and marries the Act with modern business practise. Crucially, it recognises that most UK companies are family-run and scraps some of the formalities suffered by such businesses under previous Acts. Here’s list of benefits (as perceived by HM Government).
In February 2007, the Government published a timetable for the implementation of provisions under the Act with an original deadline of October 1 2008 for full compliance with the new legislation.
Last month, Stephen Timms, Minister of State for Competitiveness, made a Written Statement to Parliament that the deadline for the final implementation has been put back one year to 1 October 2009. It should be noted that the implementations of the Act scheduled for April 6 2008 will go ahead as planned, namely the requirement for a small limited company to appoint a secretary on incorporation is confined to the history books and a reduction in filing date for the company accounts from ten to nine months.
For a more detailed description of Companies Act 2006, visit my earlier post.