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FRC appeals judgment on power to register firms

By on June 10, 2014

The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) said it has appealed against the judgment of a Federal High Court which faulted its power to register and regulate private limited liability companies in the country.

A statement from the Council cited a notice of appeal filed by its counsel Bola Ajibola and Co against the judgment of the court in a case instituted against it by Eko Hotels.

The Council contended that the court presided over by Justice O.E. Abang did not take cognisance of the provisions of  Section 77 of the FRC Act which defined a public interest entity as governments, government organisations, quoted and unquoted companies and all other organisations which are required by law to file returns with the regulatory authorities and this excludes private companies that routinely file returns only with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

The FRC is also asking the court to set aside the judgment on the ground that it was against the weight of evidence.

Eko Hotels had approached the court in suit no FHC/L/CS/1430/12 to declare that the FRC did not have the legal power to ask it to register with the Council because it (Eko Hotels) was not a public company or public interest entity.

It also sought leave of the court to determine whether it was liable to pay statutory and renewable annual dues to the FRC for the years 2011 and 2012.

The company also prayed the court to rule on the powers of the Council to register it under the FRC Act.

Eko Hotels also sought leave of the court to determine whether it was required to furnish the FRC with evidence of its statutory filing with the CAC and the FIRS.

It further asked the court to rule that FRC lacked the statutory powers to demand for annual returns and financial statements of a private limited company.

The FRC which was established under the FRC Act 2011 is empowered among other things to regulate accounting, auditing, actuarial and valuation standards as well as registration of professionals.

 

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One Comment

  1. therealsamjr

    June 10, 2014 at 8:27 am

    We need less not more layers of regulation. This is 2013 not 1973. The FRC shd get w/ the programme and stop wasting precious resources.