Incorporated Societies – requirements under the new Incorporated Societies Act 2022
Charities Services and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) have teamed up to present a two-part webinar series that looks at the new Incorporated Societies Act 2022 (the new Act), which will come into force around October 2023. The registration period under the new Act will run for a period of around 2.5 years – ie from October 2023 to April 2026.
Recordings of these webinars are available on Charities Services’ website and can be accessed here.
The first webinar in the series looks at the changes that will impact on incorporate societies that decide to re-register under the new Act.
Some of the topics covered at a high level are:
- Number of members required – changes from 15 to 10 members
- Officers’ duties
- New constitutional requirements
- Requirement to prepare annual financial statements based on XRB accounting standards (with an exception for “small societies”)
- Requirement to file annual returns with Companies Office under section 109 of the new Act, unless the incorporated society is a registered charity, in which case the annual return will be filed with Charities Services (as is currently the case)
- Criminal offences.
The second webinar in the series looks at the re-registration process for incorporated societies under the new Act.
- New constitutional requirements
- Resources available to assist with re-registration
- Consequences of not re-registering under the new Act
We strongly urge all those charged with governance of incorporated societies and all members in incorporated societies to watch these webinars to get a high-level overview of the upcoming requirements.
In addition to these webinars, resource sheets have also been produced by Charities Services and MBIE to assist incorporated societies in transitioning to the new Act, which can be accessed here.
Companies Office has also created a useful hub on their website that contains useful information about the law changes impacting incorporated societies which can be accessed here.
Companies Office has also created a Constitution Builder tool to assist incorporated societies with drafting a new constitution that will comply with the new Act. This can be accessed here.
For more on the above, please contact your local BDO representative.
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