Common mistakes to avoid

Avoiding the following common mistakes will help to ensure your annual financial statements are filed correctly, first time.

Part of: Filing annual financial statements

1. Submitting incomplete financial statements

Financial statements must include the following:

  • statement of income and expenditure
  • statement of financial position, including assets and liabilities
  • details of all mortgages, charges, and securities of any description affecting any of the society’s property (where applicable)
  • audit or review report (where required by the society’s rules).

You might like to use the sample financial statements as a guide when preparing your society’s statements.

Sample financial statements

Sample NIL financial statements

2. Submitting the financial statements without the certificate (Form IS4)

When filing manually (by post or email), you must include a financial statements cover sheet (Form IS4) certifying that the financial statements have been submitted to, and approved by, the members of your society at a general meeting.

This certificate needs to be signed by an officer of the society, for example, the president, treasurer or secretary.

Download Form IS4 – Cover sheet for financial statements for an incorporated society PDF, 174 KB opens in a new window

3. The general meeting date isn’t provided

When filing your financial statements manually, the date of your general meeting must be included on the cover sheet (Form IS4).

4. The audit or review report is missing

An auditor’s or reviewer’s report must be submitted with the financial statement where this is required by the society’s rules.

5. Submitting bank statements or a cash book

Submitting a bank statement or a cashbook is not enough to meet the society’s financial reporting obligations under section 23 of the Incorporated Societies Act 1908. Incorporated societies must submit a complete annual financial statement to us.

6. Not filing 'nil' financial statements when the society has had no expenditure or income and has no assets and liabilities

Every incorporated society has to submit annual financial statements to us, even if it’s been financially inactive for the past financial year.

If the society has had no expenditure or income and has no assets and liabilities during this time frame, a statement is still required to be filed to report this inactivity.

You might like to use the sample NIL financial statement as a guide for preparing your society’s statement.

Sample NIL financial statements

7. Filing for the wrong financial year

The financial statements must cover the correct reporting period. For example, for the 2019 financial year, if the society has a 31 March balance date, the financial statement should cover the society’s transactions for the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.

8. Filing for the same financial year twice

When filing manually (by post or email), check the register to confirm that the society hasn’t already filed a financial statement for that particular financial year.

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9. Submitting financial statements that are unclear or illegible

A clear, legible copy of the financial statements should be submitted for registration.

More 'Filing annual financial statements' guides:

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