Briefing - Companies Act 2006 - a closer look at the decision making process

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Implementation

The Act itself is over 700 long pages and contains some 1,300 sections. It will take around three years to implement in full! In addition to the Act there will be a considerable amount of secondary legislation issued, including commencement orders. This additional legislation will provide us with further detail and will include the specific dates that the individual sections of the Act will come into force from.

Early in 2007 the government published an overview of the expected commencement timetable for the new Act. Three key common commencement dates were announced:

1 October 2007
6 April 2008
1 October 2008.

These represented the main dates that particular sections of the new Act would be introduced from. While many of you will be familiar with the law from the Companies Act 1985 and the practices and procedures that this brought about, the new 2006 Act will eventually replace almost all of the 1985 Act. Not everything in the 2006 Act is new though; broadly speaking around one third is a consolidation of the existing law, one third is re-written old legislation and one third is new.

A further government announcement late in 2007 confirmed that the final implementation date would in fact be October 2009.

It is worth mentioning that the implementation dates for the individual sections of the new Act do not always mean that change will take place immediately. Changes may take place for accounting periods beginning on or after those dates. For example, the forthcoming changes in respect of company reports and accounts will generally take place for accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2008. It is expected therefore that in most cases April 2009 year ends and onwards will be the first to be affected.

This information is intended for guidance purposes only, and you should always seek professional advice before taking any action. Please contact us for further information relating specifically to your business.

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