The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has warned businesses that failure to lodge annual statements or auditor reports on time could result in licence cancellation.

Australian financial services (AFS) licensees with a financial year ending June 30 are required to lodge the profit-and-loss statement and balance sheet by October 31 of the relevant year.

Since November last year ASIC has cancelled three licences and suspended a further two.

The regulator notes that one of these companies, Perth-based authorised representative group Winley, had its licence cancelled in May for failing to lodge financial statements and auditor reports.

However, the ASIC statement does not mention that Winley’s licence was cancelled only after the company’s trust fund had been emptied by directors, its authorised representative force had dispersed into other companies and it had ceased to operate.

“Licensees are required to lodge financial statements with ASIC to demonstrate their capacity to provide financial services,” ASIC Deputy Chairman Peter Kell said. “Failure to comply with reporting obligations can be an indicator of broader compliance concerns.

“We are disappointed that some licensees have not heeded the message that their failure to lodge audited financial statements may result in the cancellation of their AFS licence.”