182 
SECRETARIAL PRACTICE 
the directors fail to exercise their powers of appointing the 
first auditors the company in general meeting may do so 
[s. 132 (4)]. 
It is clear that ‘the first annual general meeting’ just men- 
tioned is not the same as the statutory meeting. 
Whether auditors have or have not been previously 
appointed as above, a company is bound to appoint an 
auditor or auditors at each annual general meeting, to hold 
office until the next annual general meeting [s. 132 (1)]. 
Failing any such appointment being made at any annual 
general meeting, any member of the company may apply 
to the Board of Trade, who may appoint an auditor for 
the current year [s. 132 (2)]. 
The following persons are disqualified from appointment as 
auditor (1) any director or officer of the company, (2) any 
body corporate, (3) except in the case of a private company, 
any person who is a partner of or in the employment of any 
officer of the company. A body corporate acting under an 
appointment made before the 3rd August, 1928, may however 
complete his duties under such appointment [s. 133]. 
If the directors or the company have previously appointed 
the first auditors, their names and addresses must appear in 
any prospectus issued on the formation of the company [s. 35 
and the fourth schedule] or in the statement in lieu of pros- 
pectus [s. 40 and the fifth schedule]. And if before the 
statutory meeting the directors or the company have appointed 
the first auditors, their names and addresses must appear 
in the statutory report, and they must certify it so far as it 
relates to the shares allotted, to the cash received in respect of 
such shares, and to the receipts and payments of the company 
on capital account [s. 113). If there are no auditors, the 
directors’ certificate of the statutory report [s. 113 (3)] must 
suffice. 
The balance sheet, which is required by s. 110 to be included 
in the Annual Return, must have been audited by the com- 
pany’s auditors. 
As regards the appointment at an annual general meeting of 
new auditors in the place of existing auditors, this is provided 
for by s. 132 (3), the effect of which may be stated as follows: 
Retiring auditors may be re-elected at the annual 
meeting, without previous notice of intention to 
nominate them. 
Other auditors may be elected at the meeting, subject 
to the condition that a member must have given 
notice to the companv not less than fourteen davs