ASIC Form 388: Lodging Financial Statements

ASIC Form 388 lodges financial reports for large proprietary companies, public companies and some small proprietary companies that are foreign-controlled or directed to lodge. Registered agents submit signed reports through ASIC’s portal. First establish whether your client must lodge or qualifies for relief.

Which Company Clients Have to Lodge Form 388

Large proprietary companies generally lodge Form 388 each financial year. Public companies also generally lodge, subject to the rules for small companies limited by guarantee, registered charities and other relief. Small proprietary companies need a separate assessment.

A proprietary company is large when it meets at least two of these consolidated measures. Include the company and entities it controls.

Measure	Threshold	Measurement period
Consolidated revenue	$50 million or more	For the financial year
Consolidated gross assets	$25 million or more	At financial year-end
Employees	100 or more	At financial year-end

These are ASIC’s large proprietary company thresholds. Earlier financial years can fall under the earlier threshold rules on that page. For an overdue historical report, apply the threshold regime for that reporting period.

Section 292 of the Corporations Act sets the obligation to prepare annual financial and directors’ reports. Section 319 sets the ordinary obligation to lodge them. A preparation requirement alone does not always require Form 388.

For a small proprietary company, check foreign control during any part of the year and crowd-sourced funding shareholders. Check whether ASIC or shareholders have directed it to prepare reports. A shareholder direction alone generally requires reporting to members, without ASIC lodgement. An ASIC direction can require lodgement on the terms ASIC specifies. ASIC’s small proprietary company guidance explains these branches.

A small Australian family company can stop this assessment when it has no applicable reporting trigger. Record the size assessment, foreign-control position, shareholder position and absence of relevant directions. Keep the company’s ordinary financial records even when Form 388 is unnecessary.

Relief That Changes the Lodgement Decision

Check the precise relief and retain evidence that the company meets its conditions. The following positions can change what your practice must lodge.

• A small foreign-controlled company can fall outside section 292’s reporting requirement when its results are consolidated in qualifying financial statements lodged with ASIC. The consolidation must cover the period of foreign control.
• Certain small foreign-controlled companies outside a large group can rely on reporting relief after the required directors’ resolution and notice. The current instrument is ASIC Corporations (Annual and Half-year Reporting) Instrument 2026/468, Part 9.
• Eligible listed entities can avoid a separate ASIC lodgement by lodging electronically with their eligible market operator. Part 10 of Instrument 2026/468 contains this relief.
• Certain partial-year disclosing entities have reporting relief under Part 6 of Instrument 2026/468. Establish that the company satisfies that part before omitting a report.
• Eligible wholly-owned companies can rely on ASIC Corporations (Wholly-owned Companies) Instrument 2026/533. Conditions include a deed of cross guarantee and the holding company’s consolidated financial statements.

ASIC’s consolidated relief table identifies the relevant parts. Its wholly-owned company relief guidance explains that separate instrument.

Registered charities can have reporting obligations to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission instead. A registered foreign company uses its separate financial-reporting route, generally Form 405. Do not treat either as an ordinary Australian company Form 388 job.

What Goes With the Form

Attach the complete reports required for the company’s reporting obligation. Form 388 records the lodgement details. It does not replace the financial report or any required audit.

The attachment pack normally contains the following documents.

• The financial report, including the required statements and notes.
• The signed directors’ declaration, which forms part of the financial report.
• The signed directors’ report, including the auditor’s independence declaration where required.
• The signed auditor’s report where an audit is required, or the reviewer’s report where a review is permitted.

Public companies must also include a consolidated entity disclosure statement where required. Identify the required pack using ASIC’s report attachment guidance. For preparing the reports themselves, use the financial reporting guide.

Large proprietary companies and foreign-controlled small proprietary companies generally require an audit unless an exemption applies. Audit relief for qualifying proprietary companies is in Part 3 of ASIC Corporations (Auditing) Instrument 2026/469. Audit relief can leave the obligation to prepare and lodge the reports intact.

An eligible company limited by guarantee can have its report reviewed instead of audited. ASIC’s companies limited by guarantee guidance distinguishes the tiers. Where ASIC directs a small company to report, read the direction for its audit requirement. For a small company with crowd-sourced funding shareholders, check the separate statutory audit threshold and any direction. Choosing the unaudited option in Form 388 does not create an exemption.

ASIC’s registered agent lodgement guide permits TIF, PDF or RTF attachments. It allows up to five files, each no larger than 10 MB. PDFs containing encryption, active content, external references or attached executable objects are rejected. Produce a readable final copy without those features.

Form 388 asks for the company name and ACN, the reason for lodgement and the financial year covered. A large proprietary company also provides consolidated revenue, gross assets, employee numbers and member numbers. The form asks whether reports were audited or reviewed, the auditor’s details and questions about the opinion. The lodging party confirms their capacity and that attachments are true copies of the originals.

Check signatures and dates before uploading. An unsigned directors’ declaration or directors’ report leaves the pack incomplete. A missing report date also requires correction before lodgement. If ASIC rejects the pack, the reporting obligation remains outstanding. Sending a file is insufficient until ASIC receives and accepts it.

Use the ASIC Form 388 PDF to inspect its fields. Its form is the 2013 edition, with a 2014 guide. Use ASIC’s live threshold and fee guidance for those facts. If online lodgement is unavailable, the Form 388 page directs you to contact ASIC about email or postal lodgement.

A required sustainability report has a separate Form 398 lodgement. Where the same annual report contains both report types, ASIC requires the attachment through both forms. Store each confirmation separately.

The Deadline and What Late Lodgement Costs

Most company clients lodge within four months after financial year-end. A disclosing entity has a three-month period. Use the company’s actual reporting period, which can differ from its annual review date.

Reporting position	Lodgement period
Disclosing entity or registered scheme	Within three months after financial year-end
Other company required to lodge annual reports	Within four months after financial year-end
Small company directed by ASIC to lodge	The period specified in ASIC’s direction
Reports amended after lodgement	Within 14 days after amendment

The Form 388 instructions set out these periods. An extension or relief decision must actually cover the client’s obligation. An application alone does not establish that the deadline has changed.

Company Form 388 lodgements generally have no ordinary lodgement fee. Late fees still apply. ASIC has one tier for documents up to one month late and a higher tier for documents more than one month late. Use ASIC’s current late fee schedule, together with the ASIC fees guide, when telling the client what is payable. The higher tier is a threshold increase, not a daily charge.

Before lodging the current year, compare the company’s ASIC document history with your reporting register. Search by ACN and inspect the financial year covered by each financial-report document. Retrieve the document image if its period is unclear. A missing year needs a separate assessment and, where required, its own complete lodgement. A current-year report does not satisfy an earlier year’s obligation.

When the deadline has passed, tell the director which reports are outstanding and the expected late fee tier. Arrange the complete signed pack and lodge promptly. Explain that lodging now resolves the missing-document task, but the late fee remains payable unless ASIC grants a waiver. Preserve any facts supporting a fee-review request and record the assessed fee on the client file.

Lodging It as the Company’s Agent

Use your practice’s registered agent credentials when you lodge through the registered agent portal. The company’s corporate key is used for company access or appointment steps, not as the agent’s login password.

Before starting Form 388, compare the company name, ACN, registered office and current officeholders with ASIC’s register and your authority records. If registered details have changed, handle that through Form 484. Keep that change separate from the financial-report lodgement.

Follow ASIC’s online lodgement steps.

1. Sign in to the registered agent portal using your agent number, username and password. Confirm the practice has authority to lodge for this company.
2. Select ‘Start new form’, then ‘388 Copy of financial statements and reports’. Enter the company’s ACN or ABN and confirm the displayed company.
3. Choose the company type under ‘Reason for lodgement’. Select or enter the financial year and check it against every attachment.
4. Complete any large proprietary company fields. Answer the auditor’s report questions and review the auditor’s details. Follow ASIC’s auditor appointment or replacement requirements before changing those details.
5. Attach the complete final pack. Review the attachment list and confirm that the documents are true copies of the originals.
6. Confirm your lodging capacity. Read the declaration, agree only when it is accurate and select ‘Submit’.
7. Save the confirmation and reference. Retain the submitted form, exact attachments, authority, lodging staff member and submission time. Check the lodgement status and company document record for the correct reporting period.

If the practice is not the appointed agent, agree who will lodge before using the portal. The company can appoint your practice through Form 362, retaining the signed officeholder authority. See becoming and acting as an ASIC registered agent.

Alternatively, the director or secretary can use the company officeholder portal with the reports your practice prepares for lodgement. The officeholder needs the corporate key to establish that account. ASIC’s officeholder access instructions explain the route. Send the pack securely and agree who will return the confirmation to the practice. Do not close the job until it arrives and the lodged company and financial year match.

When the Wrong Document Has Been Lodged

First identify whether the mistake is in the lodged report, the selected company or the form details. Keep the original reference and attachments. The corrective route depends on the error.

For an amended financial report or an incomplete report pack, ASIC provides ‘388 Amendment of previously lodged financial statements and reports’. Select the company type and the original document, then attach the corrected report. The amended-report lodgement period is 14 days after amendment.

For an incorrect financial-year entry or other clerical form detail, identify the original document number and explain the intended detail. Use ASIC’s correction guidance to establish whether Form 492 fits the error. Our Form 492 guide covers that request. A clerical correction cannot substitute for amending the financial report itself.

If the wrong company received the report, contact ASIC with both ACNs and the document reference. ASIC has Form 106 for requesting withdrawal of a document lodged with errors. Establish the withdrawal route and arrange the correct company’s required lodgement. A withdrawal request does not lodge the report for the intended company or erase a missed deadline.

Lodging a fresh ordinary Form 388 does not automatically displace the document already on the register. Use the identified amendment, correction or withdrawal route and check the resulting register record.

The file note must state the original company and reporting period, document number, exact error and correct position. Record who approved the correction, the supporting evidence, corrective transaction reference and ASIC’s response. Retain both versions of the pack so another staff member can trace the change.

For a hypothetical incomplete-pack correction, the file note can record that the 2025 report went to the correct company but omitted its auditor’s report. Record the original document number, the authorised complete pack and the amendment reference. Keep the correction open until ASIC processes it.

A client message for that example can state: The financial-report lodgement omitted the auditor’s report. We have submitted the complete pack through ASIC’s amendment transaction. We will send the confirmation once ASIC processes it and tell you whether any further action or fee is outstanding.

Tell the client which report went to which company, what was wrong and what action the practice has taken. State any outstanding acceptance, fee or further signature needed. Once ASIC processes the correction, send the confirmation and explain whether the correct reporting obligation is now satisfied. Close the job only after the correct company and financial year appear in the accepted lodgement record.