By regulatory requirements, quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has up till tomorrow, October 30, to submit their financial statements and reports for the third quarter of this financial year, failure to comply Taxafor which they would be sanctioned.
Defaulting entities could face regulatory sanctions that range from N100,000 to N100 million.
Under the extant rules at the Exchange, quoted companies are required to submit their interim or quarterly reports not later than 30 calendar days after the end of the relevant period.
In practice, most quoted entities on the exchange use the 12-month Gregorian calendar year as their business year thereby making the deadline for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2018 as October 30.
Based on the regulatory rules, listed companies are required also to publish the earnings reports within five business days after the date of filing, with the web address disclosed in at least two national newspapers after which the publications are required to be posted on their websites.
In addition, the requirements include that an electronic copy of a company’s publication shall be filed with the Exchange on the same day as the newspaper publication. Similarly, where a company decides to audit its quarterly accounts, it shall be required to file such accounts not later than 60 calendar days after the relevant quarter.
Under the rules, late submission under the first instance of 90 days could attract N9 million fine, the additional period of 90 days will attract N18 million while any delay beyond the first 180 days to the next 180 days could attract as much as N72 million, bringing fines payable by a defaulting company within a year to N99 million.
Based on the tally provided by the NSE, as at the close of trading session on the exchange last Friday, several companies had not submitted their third quarter reports, implying that many of them may not escape regulatory sanctions.
Also, companies that delayed their financial statements and accounts could be suspended or delisted in addition to suffering monetary fines.
