Most companies have a financial year that runs parallel to the calendar year. This means that for legal entities, it is again legally time to draw up the annual accounts. After all, the law requires this to be done within five months of the end of the financial year, i.e. by the end of May at the latest.
Fortunately, you can extend this deadline by a further five months, until the end of October. However, this requires a shareholders’ resolution; it is therefore important to inform your shareholders in good time and to convene a general meeting of shareholders. If your articles of association allow it, you may be able to pass a resolution without holding a meeting.
It is the same shareholders who, once the annual accounts have been drawn up, are responsible for their adoption. Shortly afterwards (eight days later), the annual accounts must then be filed with the Chamber of Commerce. This, in turn, is the responsibility of the board of the legal entity.
This year, you can take advantage of the Second Collective Procedure Act COVID-19. That law not only makes it easy to convene, meet and vote at shareholder meetings digitally. The law also regulates that the board may decide, to the exclusion of the general meeting, to extend the notice period to 10 months. The Second Collective Disclosure Act COVID-19 thus provides a lot of flexibility to secure deadlines.
Meeting deadlines is of course always important, but even more so given the current situation. After all, possible heavy weather or even bankruptcy cannot be ruled out, especially in the industries hit extra hard by the corona virus. If you miss certain deadlines, such as the deadline for filing annual accounts, this could have consequences for directors' liability in bankruptcy.