Phil O'Reilly

Wellington, Feb 24 NZPA - A proposal looking at requiring large non-issuer companies to file their financial statements with the Registrar of Companies has been turned down by the Government -- a move that has pleased Business New Zealand.

The government proposal was raised a few years ago and a discussion document was released late last year which attracted submissions both for and against, but Commerce Minister Simon Power said today he had decided the status quo would remain.

He said it was his view that the arguments against filing outweighed the arguments for filing.

"I have decided to make an early announcement on this issue to put business concern to rest. This announcement will also allow the focus of the debate to move to other reform proposals that are being considered as a part of the review of the financial reporting framework."

Business New Zealand said the proposal relating to non-issuer companies -- those which don't seek public investment by trading on the stock exchange -- would have been at odds with the rights of such companies to commercial confidentiality and personal privacy.

"Making non-issuer companies publicly file their financial information would also have created additional compliance costs in accounting, auditing and reporting," said chief executive Phil O'Reilly.

He said the proposal had been promoted in the interests of achieving consistency with Australian law, but that many Australian companies were granted exemptions.

Mr Power said more announcements relating to reform of financial reporting systems of different types of companies would be made in the second half of the year.