Companies Act 2014 section 289

Statutory financial statements to give true and fair view

Section 289 establishes the requirement that directors may only approve statutory financial statements if those statements give a true and fair view of the company's financial position and performance.

• Directors must be satisfied that statutory financial statements give a true and fair view of assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss before approving them.
• Entity financial statements must present a true and fair view of the company on a standalone basis, excluding any subsidiary undertakings.
• Group financial statements must present a true and fair view of the company and all consolidated subsidiary undertakings taken as a whole, so far as concerns the members of the company.
• Statutory auditors must have regard to the directors' true and fair view duty when performing their audit functions in relation to the statutory financial statements.