The Corporations Amendment (Corporate Reporting Reform) Bill 2010, designed to reduce red-tape on business and improve Australia’s corporate reporting framework, is being considered by the Federal Parliament.

Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector Ursula Stephens said that the Bill will benefit many of the more than 700,000 third sector organisations in Australia, through making their administration easier and more efficient.

The Bill’s key measures include:

• Significantly reducing the regulatory burden on companies limited by guarantee, which typically have a not for profit purpose, by introducing a three-tiered differential reporting framework
• Streamlining parent-entity reporting
• Providing greater flexibility for companies to pay dividends, by replacing the profits test with a solvency-type test
• Allowing companies to more easily change their year-end date to minimise the burden on companies and their auditors during peak reporting periods.