ASIC consolidates annual and half-year reporting relief into Instrument 2026/468

What does Instrument 2026/468 do?

ASIC has made ASIC Corporations (Annual and Half-year Reporting) Instrument 2026/468, a consolidated legislative instrument dealing with annual and half-year reporting relief under the Corporations Act 2001.

The instrument was made on 16 September 2026, registered on the Federal Register of Legislation on 17 September 2026, and commenced on the day after registration — 18 September 2026.

The instrument is significant because it consolidates a number of existing ASIC financial reporting relief instruments into one instrument. ASIC has stated that the consolidated reporting and auditing instruments do not introduce substantial policy changes, but are intended to improve clarity, consistency and ease of use by bringing the relief into a more streamlined framework.

Instrument 2026/468 sets out exemptions, declarations and an approval relating to annual and half-year reporting and related requirements under Chapters 2M, 2P, 5B, 6D and 7 of the Corporations Act. Broadly, the instrument covers:

• general financial reporting exemptions, including post-balance-date disclosure relief, rounding relief, nil amount item relief and directors' report transfer relief;
• parent entity financial statements;
• related scheme reports;
• relief for non-reporting entities;
• partial-year reporting relief for disclosing entities;
• reporting relief for stapled groups;
• relief for foreign entities and entities with a foreign parent;
• electronic lodgment of reports with eligible market operators;
• modifications and exemptions for Chapter 6D and Part 7.9 disclosure purposes; and
• profit and loss statement relief for natural person financial services licensees.

The instrument is scheduled to be repealed at the start of 1 October 2031.

Why was the instrument made?

ASIC consulted on consolidating financial reporting and audit relief instruments through CS 54 Proposed consolidation of financial reporting and auditing instruments. ASIC said the proposal was to streamline 17 legislative instruments about financial reporting and auditing relief into two instruments as part of ASIC's regulatory simplification work.

Instrument 2026/468 is the reporting instrument. It consolidates relief relating to annual and half-year reporting obligations for companies, registered schemes, registrable superannuation entities, retail CCIVs and disclosing entities. ASIC Corporations (Auditing) Instrument 2026/469 separately consolidates auditing relief. ASIC's announcement identifies the Reporting Instrument as combining 14 existing reporting instruments into one instrument.

Which instruments have been repealed?

Schedule 1 of Instrument 2026/468 repeals the whole of 14 reporting instruments.

Has the relief changed?

ASIC's stated position is that the consolidated instruments do not introduce substantial policy changes. That is the correct starting point. However, it would not be precise to say that every provision in Instrument 2026/468 is word-for-word identical to the repealed instruments.

A comparison of the repealed reporting instruments with Instrument 2026/468 indicates that most operative relief has been carried forward without substantive policy change. In many cases, the changes are limited to updated section numbers, updated cross-references, replacement of references to a repealed instrument with references to the relevant section of Instrument 2026/468, and structural changes needed to place separate instruments into one consolidated instrument.

There are, however, several points that preparers and auditors should note.

1. Rounding and nil amount item relief

Sections 10 and 11 of Instrument 2026/468 carry forward the rounding relief and nil amount item relief previously contained in ASIC Corporations (Rounding in Financial/Directors' Reports) Instrument 2026/183.

Section 10 provides relief from the requirement to state amounts exactly, subject to conditions. Those conditions include consistent application of the relevant rounding factor, comparative amounts being shown on the same rounded basis, no adverse effect on users' decisions or accountability, a statement that amounts have been rounded in accordance with section 10, and page-by-page disclosure of the extent of rounding.

Section 11 preserves the relief allowing a financial report to omit an item where the amount that would be shown for that item, including any comparative amount, would be nil.

There is also an important application-date rule. Sections 10 and 11 apply to eligible reports for financial years or half-years ending on or after 1 January 2027. For eligible reports ending before that date, the former Instrument 2026/183 continues to apply.

2. Large group thresholds

There is an important drafting point in the definition of "large group". The former Instrument 2017/204 used the earlier thresholds of $25 million revenue, $12.5 million gross assets and 50 employees.

Instrument 2026/468 updates the stated thresholds in the definition of "large group" to $50 million revenue, $25 million gross assets and 100 employees. This appears to be a drafting update to reflect the current prescribed proprietary company size thresholds, rather than a substantive change to the mechanism.

However, the 2026–27 Federal Budget announced a proposal to increase the monetary thresholds for large proprietary companies from $50 million to $100 million of consolidated revenue, and from $25 million to $50 million of consolidated gross assets. Because Instrument 2026/468 refers to any other prescribed amount or number for the relevant section 45A thresholds, the "large group" definition appears capable of moving with future prescribed threshold changes if and when they are enacted.

3. Section 36 timing

Section 36 applies to calendar years commencing on or after 1 January 2026, even though Instrument 2026/468 commenced on 18 September 2026. This should generally be understood as a continuity measure rather than a new retrospective burden.

The main practical issue is administrative. Registered foreign companies, local agents and advisers may need to update compliance checklists and correspondence that previously referred to ASIC Corporations (Foreign-Controlled Company Reports) Instrument 2017/204. For 2026 calendar-year relief after commencement of Instrument 2026/468, the relevant reference is section 36 of ASIC Corporations (Annual and Half-year Reporting) Instrument 2026/468.

Application dates and transitional provisions

Disclosure and compliance requirements

The disclosure and compliance requirements depend on the relief being used. They should not be assumed to be the same across all parts of the instrument.