COMPANIES ACT, 1929 
627 
(2) The books of account shall be kept at the registered office 
of the company or at such other place as the directors think fit, 
and shall at all times be open to inspection by the directors. 
(3) If any person being a director of a company fails to take all 
reasonable steps to secure compliance by the company with the 
requirements of this section, or has by his own wilful act been the 
cause of any default by the company thereunder, he shall, in respect 
of each offence, be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for 
a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding two 
hundred pounds: 
Provided that a person shall not be sentenced to imprisonment 
for an offence under this section unless, in the opinion of the court 
dealing with the case, the offence was committed wilfully. 
123.—(1) The directors of every company shall at some date 
not later than eighteen months after the incorporation of the com- 
pany and subsequently once at least in every calendar year lay before 
the company in general meeting a profit and loss account or, in the 
case of a company not trading for profit, an income and expenditure 
account for the period, in the case of the first account, since the 
incorporation of the company, and, in any other case, since the 
preceding account, made up to a date not earlier than the date of 
the meeting by more than nine months, or, in the case of a company 
carrying on business or having interests abroad, by more than twelve 
months: 
Provided that the Board of Trade, if for any special reason they 
think fit so to do, may, in the case of any company, extend the 
period of eighteen months aforesaid, and in the case of any company 
and with respect to any year extend the periods of nine and twelve 
months aforesaid. 
’rofit and loss 
iccount and 
>alance sheet. 
(2) The directors shall cause to be made out in every calendar 
year, and to be laid before the company in general meeting, a balance 
sheet as at the date to which the profit and loss account, or the 
income and expenditure account, as the case may be, is made up, 
and there shall be attached to every such balance sheet a report 
by the directors with respect to the state of the company’s affairs, 
the amount, if any, which they recommend should be paid by way 
of dividend, and the amount, if any, which they propose to carry 
to the reserve fund, general reserve or reserve account shown speci- 
ically on the balance sheet, or to a reserve fund, general reserve 
or reserve account to be shown specifically on a subsequent balance 
sheet 
{3) If any person being a director of a company fails to take 
all reasonable steps to comply with the provisions of this section, 
he shall, in respect of each offence, be liable on summary conviction 
to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine 
not exceeding two hundred pounds: 
Provided that a person shall not be sentenced to imprisonment 
for an offence under this section unless in the opinion of the court 
dealing with the case, the offence was committed wilfr}