The Australian Treasury has launched a public consultation on a new draft law containing measures for the disclosure of subsidiary information by Australian public companies. The explanatory memorandum summarizes the new law as follows. The deadline for comments is 13 April 2023.

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Summary of new law

For each financial year commencing on or after 1 July 2023, Australian public companies must, as part of their annual financial reporting obligations, provide a 'consolidated entity statement':

• If the accounting standards require the public company to prepare financial statements in relation to a consolidated entity, the consolidated entity statement must include disclosures about entities within the consolidated entity at the end of the financial year.
• If however, the accounting standards do not require the public company to prepare financial statements in relation to a consolidated entity, the public company must provide a statement to that effect.

Alongside the general reporting obligations, directors, chief executive officers and chief financial officers must also declare that the consolidated entity statement is in their opinion a true and correct at the end of the financial year.