Chapter: 32 COMPANIES ORDINANCE
Section Num: 336 Version Date 01/07/2000
Accounts of oversea company
(1) Subject to subsection (6), every oversea company shall, at least once in every calendar year and at intervals of not more than 15 months, deliver to the Registrar for registration a return, which shall be signed on behalf of the company by a director or the secretary or a person authorized to accept service on behalf of the company or the manager or principal officer of the company in Hong Kong, confirming that there has been no alteration in the documents and particulars delivered under section 333 other than the alterations, if any, notified under section 335, and copies, certified in the prescribed manner, of- (Amended 6 of 1984 s. 232)
(a) (i) its balance sheet as at the end of its last financial year,
(ii) its profit and loss account for the said year,
(iii) its group accounts, if any, in respect of the said year, and
(iv) its directors' report, if any, in respect of the said year,
all in such form and containing such particulars and including copies of such documents as the company is required to prepare by the law for the time being applicable to the company in the place of its incorporation or origin; and
(b) its auditors' report, if any, on the said balance sheet and accounts.
(2) The Registrar may, if he is of the opinion that the balance sheet, profit and loss account and documents referred to in subsection (1) do not sufficiently disclose the company's financial position, require the company to deliver to him for registration a balance sheet and profit and loss account within such period, in such form and, subject to subsection (3), containing such particulars and including such documents as he by notice in writing given to the company requires, and the company shall comply with the requirements set out in the notice.
(3) Subsection (2) does not authorize the Registrar to require a balance sheet or profit and loss account to contain any particulars or include any documents that would not be required to be furnished if the company were a company incorporated under this Ordinance.
(4) Where an oversea company is not required by the law of the place of its incorporation or origin to prepare a balance sheet and profit and loss account, the company shall prepare and deliver to the Registrar for registration- (Amended 6 of 1984 s. 232)
(a) a balance sheet and profit and loss account within such period, in such form and containing such particulars and including such documents as the company would have been required to prepare if it were a company incorporated under this Ordinance, and
(b) a report by qualified auditors on the said balance sheet and profit and loss account.
(5) If any return, balance sheet, profit and loss account, group accounts or document delivered to the Registrar for registration under this section is not written in the English or Chinese language, in lieu of that delivery there shall be delivered to the Registrar a certified translation thereof in English or Chinese. (Amended 6 of 1984 s. 232; 83 of 1995 s. 18; 46 of 2000 s. 37)
(6) This section shall not apply to a company which-
(a) if it were incorporated under this Ordinance would be a private company within the meaning of section 29, or
(b) in the opinion of the Registrar has substantially the same general characteristics as such a private company,
and which is not required by the law of the place of its incorporation or origin to publish its accounts or to deliver copies to any person in whose office they may be inspected as of right by members of the public.
(Replaced 80 of 1974 s. 15)