Companies Act 2014 section 304

Treatment of entity profit and loss account where group financial statements prepared

Section 304 allows a holding company that prepares group financial statements to omit its individual (entity) profit and loss account from the documents it circulates to members, lays before the general meeting, and annexes to the annual return, provided certain conditions are met.

• Where a holding company prepares group financial statements and its entity balance sheet discloses the company's profit or loss for the year, the company may avail of an exemption from publishing its entity profit and loss account.
• The entity profit and loss account, together with specified supplementary information, must still be approved by the board of directors, even though it need not be circulated to members, laid before a general meeting, or annexed to the annual return.
• For companies applying the small companies regime, the supplementary information is that specified in paragraphs 52 and 53 of Schedule 3A; for all other companies, it is that specified in paragraphs 59 to 63 of Schedule 3, or equivalent information required by IFRS.
• The exemption may only be used if the entity financial statements published alongside the group financial statements disclose the fact that the exemption has been availed of.