Bill and I have been having a debate about this and whether or not there is any need to file a copy of the final progress report with the Registrar of Companies in CVLs and MVLs since the wording of sections 106 and 94 were not amended by the 2010 Rules and a copy of the final report was not previously sent. Taking the strict interpretation arising from the unchanged legislation seemed illogical, as office holders would have been required to file progress reports during the appointment, but not at the end. We had asked the RPBs for their views, but before they could respond we heard the answer straight from the horse’s mouth as it were, the Registrar of Companies. Quite simply, the Registrar of Companies will not accept for filing final returns in CVLs and MVLs on Forms 4.72 and 4.71 unless they are accompanied by a copy of the final progress report in respect of cases commenced on or after 6 April 2010.
We are also aware that the Registrar of Companies has rejected final progress reports accompanying the final returns as they were the draft progress reports that were issued to creditors and so were not made up to the date of the final meetings. As a result, you will need to amend the draft final progress reports and ensure that a receipts and payments account to the date of the final meetings accompanies the final return.
Since section 172(8) in respect of compulsory liquidations only refers to lodging a return with the Registrar of Companies regarding the meeting of creditors held and any decisions made there does not appear to be any requirement to send a final progress report with Form 4.43, but the Registrar of Companies may still decide that there is! Again, there is a certain logic to filing a progress report at the end of the appointment if you have had to do so throughout it and we suggest that filing a copy of the progress report, if accepted by the Registrar, should be the default option. We will let you know if we hear what approach the Registrar and regulators are taking.
