Which board-report disclosures did the 2025 accounts rules add?
From 14 July 2025 the board’s report includes the number of sexual-harassment complaints received during the year, the number disposed of, and the number pending for more than ninety days, and a statement that the company has complied with the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. Those counts replaced a bare statement that an internal committee had been constituted.
No. The report now gives the number of complaints received in the year, the number disposed of, and the number pending for more than ninety days, and a statement on compliance with the Maternity Benefit Act.
What was added to the board’s report?
The Companies (Accounts) Rules require the board’s report to carry those particulars. The complaints are the complaints under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The maternity statement is a statement of compliance with the Maternity Benefit Act. The amendment does not itself decide a complaint, and it does not set a new penalty for the workplace Acts. It adds what the report must say.
How is AOC-4 filed?
The same rules moved Form AOC-4, AOC-4 CFS, and AOC-4 XBRL onto web-based forms. A company that files AOC-4 XBRL attaches the signed financial statements. The due date for the financial statements did not move with the screen. When AOC-4 is due is on the AOC-4 page. The portal’s later screens, saved drafts, and login method are the filing system. They are not a change to the period the Act allows.
Which auditor form is which?
Form ADT-1 remains the notice that an auditor has been appointed. Form ADT-4 is the report the auditor files with the Central Government when section 143(12) requires a fraud to be reported. Making ADT-4 an electronic form did not merge the two, and it did not replace the appointment notice. Cost-audit forms and the annual return were also revised for the same portal. This page does not set their fees.
Form INC-22A, the ACTIVE filing, was already in the incorporation rules. The 2025 change revised that form for the portal. It did not introduce the tagging. The small-company limits were not part of these rules. They remain ₹4 crore and ₹40 crore, on the limits page.
Frequently asked questions
Four questions cover the old committee sentence, ADT-1, ACTIVE, and the small-company test.
Is a statement that a committee exists still enough?
No. The report now gives the number of complaints received in the year, the number disposed of, and the number pending for more than ninety days, and a statement on compliance with the Maternity Benefit Act.
Did ADT-4 replace ADT-1?
No. ADT-1 is still the notice of the auditor’s appointment. ADT-4 is the auditor’s report to the Central Government where section 143(12) requires it.
Was ACTIVE invented in 2025?
No. Form INC-22A already existed. The 2025 incorporation rules revised the filing for the V3 portal. They did not create the obligation.
Did these rules change the small-company test?
No. The prescribed limits remain ₹4 crore of paid-up capital and ₹40 crore of turnover. That test is a different notification.
Sources
The board’s report disclosures were added by the Companies (Accounts) Second Amendment Rules, 2025, in force on 14 July 2025. The auditor’s fraud report is section 143(12), filed in Form ADT-4.