Companies Act 1948

196 Particulars in accounts of directors' salaries, pensions, &c.

(1) In any accounts of a company laid before it in general meeting, or in a statement annexed thereto, there shall, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this section, be shown so far as the information is contained in the company's books and papers or the company has the right to obtain it from the persons concerned—

(a) the aggregate amount of the directors' emoluments;

(b) the aggregate amount of directors' or past directors' pensions; and

(c) the aggregate amount of any compensation to directors or past directors in respect of loss of office.

(2) The amount to be shown under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section—

(a) shall include any emoluments paid to or receivable by any person in respect of his services as director of the company or in respect of his services, while director of the company, as director of any subsidiary thereof or otherwise in connection with the management of the affairs of the company or any subsidiary thereof; and

(b) shall distinguish between emoluments in respect of services as director, whether of the company or its subsidiary, and other emoluments;

and for the purposes of this section the expression “emoluments ”, in relation to a director, includes fees and percentages, any sums paid by way of expenses allowance in so far as those sums are charged to United Kingdom income tax, any contribution paid in respect of him under any pension scheme and the estimated money value of any other benefits received by him otherwise than in cash.

(3) The amount to be shown under paragraph (b) of the said subsection (1)—

(a) shall not include any pension paid or receivable under a pension scheme if the scheme is such that the contributions thereunder are substantially adequate for the maintenance of the scheme, but save as aforesaid shall include any pension paid or receivable in respect of any such services of a director or past director of the company as are mentioned in the last foregoing subsection, whether to or by him or, on his nomination or by virtue of dependence on or other connection with him, to or by any other person; and

(b) shall distinguish between pensions in respect of services as director, whether of the company or its subsidiary, and other pensions;

and for the purposes of this section the expression “pension ” includes any superannuation allowance, superannuation gratuity or similar payment, and the expression “pension scheme ” means a scheme for the provision of pensions in respect of services as director or otherwise which is maintained in whole or in part by means of contributions, and the expression “contribution” in relation to a pension scheme means any payment (including an insurance premium) paid for the purposes of the scheme by or in respect of persons rendering services in respect of which pensions will or may become payable under the scheme, except that it does not include any payment in respect of two or more persons if the amount paid in respect of each of them is not ascertainable.

(4) The amount to be shown under paragraph (c) of the said subsection (1)—

(a) shall include any sums paid to or receivable by a director or past director by way of compensation for the loss of office as director of the company or for the loss, while director of the company or on or in connection with his ceasing to be a director of the company, of any other office in connection with the management of the company's affairs or of any office as director or otherwise in connection with the management of the affairs of any subsidiary thereof; and

(b) shall distinguish between compensation in respect of the office of director, whether of the company or its subsidiary, and compensation in respect of other offices;

and for the purposes of this section references to compensation for loss of office shall include sums paid as consideration for or in connection with a person's retirement from office.

(5) The amounts to be shown under each paragraph of the said subsection (1)—

(a) shall include all relevant sums paid by or receivable from—

(i) the company; and

(ii) the company's subsidiaries; and

(iii) any other person;

except sums to be accounted for to the company or any of its subsidiaries or, by virtue of section one hundred and ninety-three of this Act, to past or present members of the company or any of its subsidiaries or any class of those members; and

(b) shall distinguish, in the case of the amount to be shown under paragraph (c) of the said subsection (1), between the sums respectively paid by or receivable from the company, the company's subsidiaries and persons other than the company and its subsidiaries.

(6) The amounts to be shown under this section for any financial year shall be the sums receivable in respect of that year, whenever paid, or, in the case of sums not receivable in respect of a period, the sums paid during that year, so, however, that where—

(a) any sums are not shown in the accounts for the relevant financial year on the ground that the person receiving them is liable to account therefor as mentioned in paragraph (a) of the last foregoing subsection, but the liability is thereafter wholly or partly released or is not enforced within a period of two years; or

(b) any sums paid by way of expenses allowance are charged to United Kingdom income tax after the end of the relevant financial year;

those sums shall, to the extent to which the liability is released or not enforced or they are charged as aforesaid, as the case may be, be shown in the first accounts in which it is practicable to show them or in a statement annexed thereto, and shall be distinguished from the amounts to be shown therein apart from this provision.

(7) Where it is necessary so to do for the purpose of making any distinction required by this section in any amount to be shown thereunder, the directors may apportion any payments between the matters in respect of which they have been paid or are receivable in such manner as they think appropriate.

(8) If in the case of any accounts the requirements of this section are not complied with, it shall be the duty of the auditors of the company by whom the accounts are examined to include in their report thereon, so far as they are reasonably able to do so, a statement giving the required particulars.

(9) In this section any reference to a company's subsidiary—

(a) in relation to a person who is or was, while a director of the company, a director also, by virtue of the company's nomination, direct or indirect, of any other body corporate, shall, subject to the following paragraph, include that body corporate, whether or not it is or was in fact the company's subsidiary; and

(b) shall for the purposes of subsections (2) and (3) be taken as referring to a subsidiary at the time the services were rendered, and for the purposes of subsection (4) be taken as referring to a subsidiary immediately before the loss of office as director of the company.