Accounts and audit
19.—(1) The Department may by order lay down accounting requirements for registered housing associations with a view to ensuring that the accounts of every registered housing association are prepared in the requisite form and give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the association, so far as its housing activities are concerned, and of the disposition of funds and assets which are, or at any time have been, in its hands in connection with those activities.
(2) The accounts of every registered housing association must comply with those requirements; and the auditor’s report shall state (in addition to any other matters which it is required to state) whether in the auditor’s opinion they do so comply.
(3) Every registered housing association shall furnish to the Department a copy of its accounts and auditor’s report within 6 months of the end of the period to which they relate.
(4) A registered housing association shall be subject to section 38(1) of the Act of 1969 (obligation to appoint auditors) without regard to the volume of its receipts and payments, the number of its members or the value of its assets; and such an association is in no case to be treated as an exempt society under that section.