Auditors' report and publication of accounts
7. After section 81 of the 1986 Act insert—
“ Requirements in connection with publication of accounts
81A—(1) If a building society publishes any of its statutory accounts, they must be accompanied by the relevant auditors' report under section 78.
(2) A building society that is required to prepare group accounts for a financial year must not publish its statutory individual accounts for that year without also publishing with them its statutory group accounts.
(3) If a building society publishes non-statutory accounts, it must publish with them a statement indicating—
(a)that they are not the society’s statutory accounts,
(b)whether statutory accounts dealing with any financial year with which the non-statutory accounts purport to deal have been prepared,
(c)whether the society’s auditors have made a report under section 78 on the statutory accounts for any financial year, and
(d)whether any such auditors' report—
(i)was qualified or unqualified, or included a reference to any matters to which the auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying the report, or
(ii)contained a statement under section 79(6) (failure to obtain necessary information and explanations);
and it must not publish with any non-statutory accounts any auditors' report made under section 78.
(4) For the purposes of this section a building society is regarded as publishing a document if it publishes, issues or circulates it or otherwise makes it available for public inspection in a manner calculated to invite members of the public generally, or any class of members of the public, to read it.
(5) References in this section to a building society’s statutory accounts are to its annual accounts as required to be laid before the society under section 81; and references to the publication by a society of “non-statutory accounts” are to the publication of—
(a)any balance sheet or income and expenditure account relating to, or purporting to deal with, a financial year or part of a financial year of the society, or
(b)an account in any form purporting to be a balance sheet or income and expenditure account for the group consisting of the society and its subsidiary undertakings relating to, or purporting to deal with, a financial year or part of a financial year of the society,
otherwise than as part of the society’s statutory accounts or summary financial statement prepared under section 76.
(6) A building society which contravenes any provision of this section, and any officer of it who is in default, is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.”.