Internal Reconstruction and Capital Reduction Notes
Corporate Accounting Notes
B.Com 2nd and 4th Sem CBCS Pattern
Internal Reconstruction and Capital Reduction (Part – B)
Q. What is
internal reconstruction? Explain its scope.
Q. Explain
the various provisions of Alteration and capital reduction of share capital
with examples. 2011, 2012, 2017, 2019
Q. Write
short notes on:
Ø Internal reconstruction 2018
Ø Reduction of share capital 2016
Q. Practical Problems: Journal Entries and Preparation of balance sheet in case of Internal Reconstruction 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018
Reconstruction of a Company
A company can be
reconstructed in any of the two ways. These are:
(i) ‘External’
Reconstruction and
(ii) ‘Internal’
Reconstruction.
(i) External Reconstruction: The term ‘External
Reconstruction’ means the winding up of an existing company and registering
itself into a new one after a rearrangement of its financial position. Thus,
there are two aspects of ‘External Reconstruction’, one, winding up of an
existing company and the other, rearrangement of the company’s financial
position. Such arrangement shall be approved by its shareholders and creditors
and shall be sanctioned by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Such a
step usually involves the writing off of a debit balance on Profit and Loss
Account, elimination of all fictitious assets if any from the Balance Sheet,
and the consequent readjustment of share capital.
(ii) Internal Reconstruction: Internal reconstruction
means a recourse undertaken to make necessary changes in the capital structure
of a company without liquidating the existing company. In internal
reconstruction neither the existing company is liquidated, nor is a new company
incorporated. It is a scheme in which efforts are made to bail out the company
from losses and put it in profitable position. Internal reconstruction of a
company is done through the reorganization of its share capital. It is a scheme
of reorganization in which all interested parties in the capital structure
volunteer to sacrifice. They are the company’s shareholders, debenture holders,
creditors etc. Under internal reconstruction, the accumulated trading losses
and fictitious assets are written off against the sacrifice made by these
interest holders in the form of reduction of paid up value of their interest.
Differences
between Internal Reconstruction and External Reconstruction
a.
No new company is formed in
case of Internal Reconstruction. A new company is formed in case of External
Reconstruction.
b.
In case of Internal
Reconstruction, no company is liquidated. In case of External Reconstruction
one company is liquidated
c.
Internal Reconstruction
requires court’s confirmation. But External Reconstruction can be affected
without court’s confirmation
d.
Internal Reconstruction is a
slow and tedious process. But External Reconstruction can be carried out easily
e.
In the case of Internal
Reconstruction, the company is able to set off its past losses against future
profits. Whereas, in the case of External Reconstruction, the past losses of
the old company can’t be set off against the future profits of the new company.
Forms of Internal reconstruction of a company (Scope of Internal reconstruction)
Internal reconstruction of a company can be
carried out in the following different ways. These are as under:
(A) Alteration of Share Capital; and
(B) Reduction in Share Capital
Alteration of Share Capital: Memorandum of Association contains capital
clause of a company. Under Section 61 of the Companies Act 2013, a company,
limited by shares, can alter this capital clause, if is permitted by (i) the
Articles of Association of the company; and (ii) if a resolution to this effect
is passed by the company in the general meeting. A company can alter share capital in any of the
following ways:
(a)
The company may increase its capital by issuing new shares.
(b)
It may consolidate the whole or any part of its share capital into shares of
larger amount.
(c)
It may convert shares into stock or vice versa.
(d)
It may sub-divide the whole or any part of its share capital into shares of
smaller amount.
(e)
It may cancel those shares which have not been taken up and reduce its capital
accordingly.
To
alter capital by any of the above modes require a resolution at a general
meeting, but does not require confirmation by the National Company Law Tribunal.
The company is required to give a notice to the Registrar within thirty days of
alteration.
The
accounting treatment of the above five types of capital alteration is discussed
below.
(a)
If the company has issued all of its authorised capital, then, for the purpose
of raising fund by the issue of fresh shares, it will have to increase its
authorised capital first. For increasing the authorised capital, the Capital
clause of Memorandum of Association of the company is required to be altered
and permission of S.E.B.I. is also required to be obtained. No accounting entry is necessary for
increasing authorised share capital. The company will have to observe the
formalities prescribed under the Companies Act, 2013.
(b)
The company may decide to change the shares of smaller denomination into larger
denomination. This process is called consolidation of shares. On account of
consolidation, the total amount of capital of the company will not change but
the number of shares will decrease.
(c)
A company, in order to alter its share capital, may convert all or any of its
fully paid up shares into Stock or Stock into fully paid up shares. In case,
shares are converted into Stock, the members get a part of Stock Capital in
place of shares. By converting Shares into Stock, any amount of Stock Capital
can be transferred to any other person.
(d)
When the shares of a company are sub-divided in shares of small value, it is
known as sub-division of shares. In sub-division of shares, the face value of a
share is converted into smaller denomination from larger denomination. The
total capital of the company remains unaffected by sub-division but the total
number of shares increase.
(e)
Cancellation of capital may take the following form:
(i)
Cancellation of unissued capital; and
(ii)
Cancellation of uncalled capital.
(i)
Cancellation of unissued capital: Cancellation of unissued capital means
cancellation of unissued shares by a company. It means that the part of the
authorised capital which has not yet been issued to the public may be cancelled
by the company.
(ii)
Cancellation of uncalled capital: Cancellation of uncalled capital means
cancellation of that part of the face value of the share which has not yet been
called by the company.
Reduction of Capital: Reduction of share capital is regarded as one of the process of
decreasing company’s share capital. The Reduction of Share Capital means
reduction of issued, subscribed and paid up share capital of the company. In
simple words it can be regarded as ‘Cancellation of Uncalled
Capital’ i.e. part of subscribed share
capital.
The need of reducing share capital may arise in various situations;
few are listed below:
1) Returning of
surplus to shareholders;
2) Eliminating
losses, which may be preventing the payment of dividends;
3) May be as part of
scheme of compromise or arrangements;
4) To simply capital
structure;
This
power is, given by Section 66 of the Companies Act, 2013, subject to the
compliance of conditions. According to this, a company may,
(1)
Extinguish or reduce the liability on any of its shares in respect of share
capital not paid up
(2)
cancel any paid-up share capital which is lost or is unrepresented by any
available assets;
(3)
pay off any paid-up share capital which is in excess of what is required by the
company.
Conditions for effecting reduction of
capital
Following
conditions are required to be fulfilled by a company to reduce its share
capital –
1. A company constituted
with limited liability by shares or guarantee and having share capital is alone
entitled to reduce its liability of members.
2. It should have the power under its Articles of Association
to do so. If the articles do not contain any provision for reduction of
capital, the articles must first be altered so as to give such power.
3. Reduction is regarded as internal restructuring of company;
therefore, decision of majority will prevail by way of special resolution.
4. The reduction effected by such resolution must be
confirmed by the National Company Law Tribunal (‘Tribunal’)
5. No capital reduction can be undertaken if the company is
in arrears in the repayment of any deposits (including interest payable
thereon) accepted by it.
6. Reduction takes effect on registration of the documents
with the Registrar of Companies.
7. Reduction is different from Diminution of shares which is
regarded as cancellation of unsubscribed share capital.
8. Nothing in this section shall apply to buy back of its own
securities u/s 68 of the Companies Act, 2013
9. Offenses under this section are compoundable under section
441 of the Companies Act, 2013.
10. After capital reduction, the word “And Reduced” in Balance sheet of the company.
CORPORATE ACCOUNTING CHAPTER WISE NOTES
Unit-I: Shares & Debentures
1. ISSUE OF SHARES AND SHARE CAPITAL
2. RIGHTS SHARES AND BONUS SHARES
4. REDEMPTION OF PREFERENCE SHARES
5. ISSUE AND REDEMPTION OF DEBENTURES
Unit II: Preparation of financial statements of companies
1. FINAL ACCOUNTS OF COMPANIES
2. ACCOUNTS OF BANKING COMPANIES
Unit-III: Valuations of Goodwill and Shares & Cash Flow Statement
1. VALUATIONS OF GOODWILL AND SHARES
Unit-IV: Amalgamation, External Reconstruction and Internal Reconstruction
1. AMALGAMATION AND EXTERNAL RECONSTRUCTION
2. INTERNAL RECONSTRUCTION AND CAPITAL REDUCTIONS
Unit-V: Accounts of Holding Companies