{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-1976/section-3",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-1976/section-3.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1976/69",
  "legislation_title": "Companies Act 1976",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/companies-act-1976",
  "path": "section/3",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "3",
  "heading": "Alteration of accounting reference period",
  "text": "(1) At any time during the course of a period which is an accounting reference period of a company by virtue of section 2 above or this section the company may give notice in the prescribed form to the registrar of companies specifying a date in the calendar year (\" the new accounting reference date \") on which that accounting reference period (\" the current accounting reference period\") and each subsequent accounting reference period of the company is to be treated as coming or (as the case may require) as having come to an end.\n(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, at any time after the end of a period which was an accounting reference period of a company by virtue of section 2 above or this section the company may give notice in the prescribed form to the registrar of companies specifying a date in the calendar year (\" the new accounting reference date \") on which that accounting reference period (\" the previous accounting reference period\") and each subsequent accounting reference period of the company is to be treated as coming or (as the case may require) as having come to an end.\n(3) A notice under subsection (2) above—\n(a) shall not have effect unless the company is a subsidiary or holding company of another company and the new accounting reference date coincides with the accounting reference date of that other company; and\n(b) shall not have effect if the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts in relation to the previous accounting reference period has already expired at the time when the notice is given.\n(4) A notice under this section shall state whether the current or previous accounting reference period of the company—\n(a) is to be treated as shortened, so as to come to an end, or (as the case may require) to be treated as having come to an end, on the new accounting reference date on the first occasion on which that date falls or fell after the beginning of that accounting reference period; or\n(b) is to be treated as extended, so as to come to an end, or (as the case may require) to be treated as having come to an end, on the new accounting reference date on the second occasion on which that date falls or fell after the beginning of that accounting reference period.\n(5) A notice under this section which states that the current or previous accounting reference period of the company is to be extended shall not have effect if the current or previous accounting reference period as extended in accordance with the notice would exceed eighteen months.\n(6) Subject to any direction given under subsection (7) below, a notice under this section which states that the current or previous accounting reference period of the company is to be extended shall not have effect unless—\n(a) no earlier accounting reference period of the company has been extended by virtue of a previous notice given by the company under this section; or\n(b) the notice is given not less than five years after the date on which any earlier accounting reference period of the company which was so extended came to an end; or\n(c) the company is a subsidiary or holding company of another company and the new accounting reference date coincides with the accounting reference date of that other company.\n(7) The Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, direct that subsection (6) above shall not apply in relation to any notice already given by a company under this section or (as the case may be) in relation to any notice which may be so given.\n(8) Where a company has given notice which has effect in accordance with the preceding provisions of this section, and that notice has not been superseded by a subsequent notice given by the company which has effect in accordance with those provisions, the new accounting reference date specified in the notice shall be the company's accounting reference date, in substitution for the date which, by virtue of section 2 above or this section, was the company's accounting reference date at the time when the notice was given.\n(9) Where by virtue of a notice under this section one date is substituted for another as the accounting reference date of a company—\n(a) the current or previous accounting reference period of the company, shortened or extended (as the case may be) in accordance with the notice as mentioned in subsection (4) above ; and\n(b) each successive period of twelve months beginning after the end of that accounting reference period, as so shortened or extended, and ending with the new accounting reference date;\nshall be or (as the case may require) shall be treated as having been an accounting reference period of the company, instead of any period which would be an accounting reference period of the company if the notice had not been given.\n(10) Nothing in this section shall affect any accounting reference period of the company which—\n(a) in the case of a notice under subsection (1) above, is earlier than the current accounting reference period, or\n(b) in the case of a notice under subsection (2) above is earlier than the previous accounting reference period.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/69/section/3",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T10:27:44.331943+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}