Previously, a company is exempted from having its accounts audited if it is an exempt private company with annual revenue of $5 million or less. This approach is being replaced by a new small company concept which will determine exemption from statutory audit. Notably, a company no longer needs to be an exempt private company to be exempted from audit.

A company qualifies as a small company if:

(a) it is a private company in the financial year in question; and

(b) it meets at least 2 of 3 following criteria for immediate past two consecutive financial years:

1. total annual revenue ≤ $10m;

2. total assets ≤ $10m;

3. no. of employees ≤ 50.

For a company which is part of a group:

(a) the company must qualify as a small company; and

For a company which is part of a group:

(b) entire group must be a “small group”

to qualify to the audit exemption.

For a group to be a small group, it must meet at least 2 of the 3 quantitative criteria on a consolidated basis for the immediate past two consecutive financial years.

Where a company has qualified as a small company, it continues to be a small company for subsequent financial years until it is disqualified.

A small company is disqualified if:

(a) it ceases to be a private company at any time during a financial year; or

(b) it does not meet at least 2 of the 3 the quantitative criteria for the immediate past two consecutive financial years.

Where a group has qualified as a small group, it continues to be a small group for subsequent financial years until it does not meet at least 2 of the 3 the quantitative criteria for the immediate past two consecutive financial years.