The Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) (Northern Ireland) Order 2005

Auditors' rights to information

10.  For Article 397A of the 1986 Order (rights to information) substitute—

“Rights to information

397A.— (1) An auditor of a company—

(a) has a right of access at all times to the company’s books, accounts and vouchers (in whatever form they are held), and

(b) may require any of the persons mentioned in paragraph (2) to provide him with such information or explanations as he thinks necessary for the performance of his duties as auditor.

(2) Those persons are—

(a) any officer or employee of the company;

(b) any person holding or accountable for any of the company’s books, accounts or vouchers;

(c) any subsidiary undertaking of the company which is a body corporate incorporated in Northern Ireland;

(d) any officer, employee or auditor of any such subsidiary undertaking or any person holding or accountable for any books, accounts or vouchers of any such subsidiary undertaking;

(e) any person who fell within any of sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) at a time to which the information or explanations required by the auditor relates or relate.

(3) Where a parent company has a subsidiary undertaking which is not a body corporate incorporated in Northern Ireland, the auditor of the parent company may require it to obtain from any of the persons mentioned in paragraph (4) such information or explanations as he may reasonably require for the purposes of his duties as auditor.

(4) Those persons are—

(a) the undertaking;

(b) any officer, employee or auditor of the undertaking;

(c) any person holding or accountable for any of the undertaking’s books, accounts or vouchers;

(d) any person who fell within sub-paragraph (b) or (c) at a time to which the information or explanations relates or relate.

(5) If so required, the parent company must take all such steps as are reasonably open to it to obtain the information or explanations from the person within paragraph (4) from whom the auditor has required the company to obtain the information or explanations.

(6) A statement made by a person in response to a requirement under paragraph (1)(b) or (3) may not be used in evidence against him in any criminal proceedings except proceedings for an offence under Article 397B.

(7) Nothing in this Article or Article 397B compels any person to disclose information in respect of which in an action in the High Court a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained.

Offences relating to the provision of information to auditors

397B.— (1) If a person knowingly or recklessly makes to an auditor of a company a statement (oral or written) that—

(a) conveys or purports to convey any information or explanations which the auditor requires, or is entitled to require, under Article 397A(1)(b), and

(b) is misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular,

the person is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment or a fine, or both.

(2) A person who fails to comply with a requirement under Article 397A(1)(b) without delay is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine.

(3) However, it is a defence for a person charged with an offence under paragraph (2) to prove that it was not reasonably practicable for him to provide the required information or explanations.

(4) If a company fails to comply with Article 397A(5), the company and every officer of it who is in default is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine.

(5) Nothing in this Article affects any right of an auditor to apply for an injunction to enforce any of his rights under Article 397A.”.