20 April 2009
The co. has paid application money for allotment of shares & bonds but no shares/bonds have been alloted on the date of Balance Sheet. How this application money is to be shown in the Balance Sheet?
20 April 2009
The correct accounting treatment in respect of share application money is analysed as below: · Section 211 of the Companies Act, 1956 provides that the balance-sheet of a company shall give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and shall be in the form (either horizontal or vertical) as set out in Part I of Schedule VI. · The broad heads under âLiabilitiesâ therein are (i) Share Capital, (ii) Reserves and Surplus, (iii) Secured Loans, (iv) Unsecured Loans and (v) Current Liabilities and Provisions. The item of âshare application moneyâ does not appear in the sub-heads under any of these heads. · Any subscripttion received by a company against issue of share capital can be regarded as âsubscribed share capitalâ only when the share capital is actually subscribed and allotted as well. Until the allotment is made, any subscripttion cannot be included in the amount of subscribed share capital. [ICAI Compendium of Opinions, Vol. XII, pp. 121 to 123]. Share application money, therefore, cannot be treated as âShare Capitalâ. · Share application money only in respect of invalid or revoked applications and excess application money received due to over-subscripttion, however, may be treated as âCurrent Liabilitiesâ. The instant case does not satisfy any of the above, hence cannot be treated as âCurrent Liabilitiesâ Share application money, therefore, can neither be categorized as âShare Capitalâ nor âCurrent Liabilitiesâ. · The ICAI Compendium of Opinions, [Vol. XV, (1996 Edn.) pp. 34 to 36], opines that the âshare application money pending allotmentâ should be shown in the balance-sheet under a separate heading between âShare Capitalâ and âReserves and Surplusâ. · Share application money is also not an instrument, much less an Equity linked instrument