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8. An auditor may be appointed for the purposes of regulation 4(1)(b) only by the members of a qualifying partnership.
9.—(1) The following provisions of the Companies Act 2006 apply to the auditor of a qualifying partnership as they apply to an auditor of a company—
(a) section 495 (auditor’s report on company’s annual accounts);
(b) section 498 (duties of auditor);
(c) section 499 (auditor’s general right to information).
(2) The auditor of a qualifying partnership must supply the members of the qualifying partnership with such information as is necessary to enable any disclosure required by regulation 4(2) to be made.
10. Sections 503 to 506 of the Companies Act 2006 (signature of auditor’s report) apply in relation to the auditor’s report required by regulation 4(1)(b), subject to—
(a) any necessary modifications to take account of the fact that the qualifying partnership is unincorporated, and
(b) the modification set out in Part 2 of the Schedule to these Regulations.
11.—(1) Where the auditor of a qualifying partnership is removed from office an application may be made to the High Court under this regulation.
(2) The persons who may make such an application are—
(a) any member of the qualifying partnership who was also a member at the time of the removal, and
(b) the Secretary of State.
(3) If the court is satisfied that the removal was—
(a) on grounds of divergence of opinion on accounting treatments or audit procedures, or
(b) on any other improper grounds,
it may make such order as it thinks fit for giving relief in respect of the removal.
(4) The court may, in particular—
(a) declare that any decision of the qualifying partnership removing an auditor, or appointing a new auditor in his place, is void;
(b) require the members of the qualifying partnership to re-appoint the dismissed auditor;
(c) give directions as to the conduct of the qualifying partnership’s affairs in the future.
(5) In the application of this regulation to a qualifying partnership formed under the law of Scotland or Northern Ireland, references to the High Court are to be read as references to the Court of Session or, as the case may be, the High Court in Northern Ireland.
12.—(1) Where an auditor of a qualifying partnership ceases to hold office before the end of his term of office, he must notify the supervisory body of which he is a member.
(2) The notice must—
(a) inform the supervisory body that he has ceased to hold office, and
(b) be accompanied by a statement of any circumstances connected with his ceasing to hold office.
(3) The auditor must notify the supervisory body not more than 14 days after the date on which he ceases to hold office.
(4) In this regulation and regulation 13, “supervisory body” has the same meaning as in Part 42 of the Companies Act 2006 (statutory auditors) (see section 1217).
13.—(1) Where an auditor of a qualifying partnership ceases to hold office before the end of his term of office, the members of the partnership must notify the supervisory body of which the auditor is a member.
(2) The notice must—
(a) inform the supervisory body that the auditor has ceased to hold office, and
(b) be accompanied by a statement by the body of the reasons for his ceasing to hold office.
(3) The members of the qualifying partnership must notify the supervisory body not more than 14 days after the date on which the auditor ceases to hold office.
14. For the purposes of section 1210(1)(h) of the Companies Act 2006 (meaning of “statutory auditor”)—
(a) a qualifying partnership is a prescribed person, and
(b) regulation 4(1)(b) is a prescribed enactment,
and accordingly a person appointed as auditor of a qualifying partnership for the purposes of regulation 4(1)(b) is a statutory auditor.
15.—(1) If, in respect of a financial year of a qualifying partnership, the requirements of paragraph (1) of regulation 4 are not complied with within the period referred to in paragraph (3) of that regulation, every person who was a member of the partnership or a director of such a member at the end of that year is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
(2) If the accounts of a qualifying partnership—
(a) a copy of which is delivered to the registrar under regulation 5, or
(b) which are made available for inspection under regulation 6,
do not comply with the requirements of regulation 4(1), every person who, at the time when the copy was so delivered or (as the case may be) the accounts were first made available for inspection, was a member of the partnership or a director of such a member is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
(3) If a member of a qualifying partnership fails to comply with regulation 5, 6, 7(3) or 13, that member and any director of that member is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
(4) In proceedings for an offence under this section it is a defence for the person charged to show that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.
(5) The following provisions of the Companies Act 2006, namely—
(a) sections 1127 and 1128 (summary proceedings: venue and time limit for proceedings), and
(b) section 1130 (proceedings against unincorporated bodies),
apply to an offence under this regulation.
16.—(1) If a person ceasing to hold office as auditor fails to comply with regulation 12, an offence is committed by—
(a) that person, and
(b) if that person is a firm, every officer of the firm who is in default.
(2) In proceedings for an offence under this section it is a defence for the person charged to show that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under this regulation is liable—
(a) on conviction on indictment, to a fine, and
(b) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.
(4) The following provisions of the Companies Act 2006, namely—
(a) sections 1121 to 1123 (liability of officer in default),
(b) sections 1127 and 1128 (summary proceedings: venue and time limit for proceedings), and
(c) section 1130 (proceedings against unincorporated bodies),
apply to an offence under this regulation.
The Partnerships (Accounts) Regulations 2008