Corporations Act 2001

A company contravenes this subsection if:

the company:

consents to be appointed as auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; or

acts as auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; or

prepares a report required by this Act to be prepared by a registered company auditor or by an auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; and

the company is not an authorised audit company.

A person (the defendant) contravenes this subsection if:

at a particular time, a company:

consents to be appointed as auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; or

acts as auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; or

prepares a report required by this Act to be prepared by a registered company auditor or by an auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; and

at that time, the company is not an authorised audit company; and

the defendant is a director of the company at that time; and

the defendant is aware of the circumstances referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) at that time.

A person (the defendant) contravenes this subsection if:

at a particular time, a company:

consents to be appointed as auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; or

acts as auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; or

prepares a report required by this Act to be prepared by a registered company auditor or by an auditor of a company, registered scheme or registrable superannuation entity; and

at that time, the company is not an authorised audit company; and

the defendant is a director of the company at that time.

For the purposes of an offence based on subsection (3), strict liability applies to the physical elements of the offence specified in paragraphs (3)(a) and (b).

For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code.

Subsection (5) provides a defence.

A director of a company does not commit an offence at a particular time because of a contravention of subsection (3) if the director either:

does not know at that time of the circumstances that constitute the contravention of subsection (3); or

knows of those circumstances at that time but takes all reasonable steps to correct the contravention of subsection (3) as soon as possible after the director becomes aware of those circumstances.

A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in this subsection, see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code.