Changing a Kenyan company's year end

How a Kenyan company notifies a new accounting reference date on CR42, and how its lodging and IT2C deadlines follow the new year end.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Kenya

A client with a March year end joins a group that reports to December. Another has a 31 December year end that lands its audit in the same weeks as every other client's, and the directors would rather close at the end of June, in line with the government's financial year. Both want to know the same thing: can we move the year end, and what does it do to our deadlines?

A Kenyan company can change its accounting reference date. The change itself is a short notice to the Registrar. The consequences ripple further, into the length of the transitional period, the lodging deadline with the Business Registration Service, the corporation tax return and the way the next financial statements are presented. This article works through each in turn.

The notice: form CR42

The Business Registration Service lists form CR42 as the notice of change of accounting reference date under section 634 of the Companies Act, 2015. The form sits on BRS's list alongside others a company secretary will recognise, such as CR20 for a return of allotment and CR43 for a notice of an auditor's resignation.

Read section 634 itself before advising, so that the timing and form of the proposed change fit what it allows. The consolidated text of the Act, including its provisions on accounts and audit, is on Kenya Law's page for the Companies Act, 2015.

A board resolution approving the change, with the new date and the reason, should sit in the minute book before the notice goes in.

Deadlines follow the reference period

The lodging deadline under section 684 is measured from the end of the accounting reference period: nine months for a private company and six months for a public company. Once the reference date moves, the deadline moves with it.

The Act also has special rules where a first period runs longer than twelve months. A company changing its year end should check how those rules, and section 634 itself, apply to the transitional period, because a period that is not twelve months long does not always run to the usual timetable. More on lodging generally is in lodging financial statements with the Registrar.

A worked example in words

Take a private company moving from a 31 March year end to 31 December. Its transitional period runs from 1 April to the new 31 December. The lodging deadline is counted from that new period end rather than from the old March date, so the first set of statements under the new date is due nine months after the December period end, subject to any special rule that applies to the changed period.

The IT2C deadline after the new year end

On the tax side, KRA says corporation tax is filed on iTax using the Income Tax Company Return (IT2C) on or before the end of the sixth month after the end of the accounting period. KRA's own example is a company with a 31 December year end, which has until 30 June of the following year. KRA adds that filing after six months attracts a penalty.

So a company that moves to 31 December has its first IT2C under the new date due at the end of the following June. The firm will also want to review instalment tax planning and the tax computation for the transitional period. How a client's tax year relates to the calendar is explained in Kenya's tax years explained, and the return itself in preparing the IT2C pack.

Three calendars to keep apart

Kenya has three different years running at once, and clients mix them up:

A company choosing 30 June is aligning with the government's year by choice, not because the law ties companies to it. A company can pick the date that suits its business and its group.

Presenting the transitional period

The first statements after a change cover a period that is not twelve months long, while the comparatives cover a full year. Good practice is to state clearly in the statements that the current period is shorter or longer than a year, why the date changed, and that the amounts are therefore not directly comparable. The directors' report is a natural place to explain the reason.

Rolling statements forward in Achekam

When the first statements under the new date are prepared, Achekam's statements Studio helps in two ways.

Building the draft. From a mapped trial balance, the Studio builds a draft set of annual financial statements with every figure calculated in code: the directors' report, the four primary statements, policies, notes and a detailed income statement. The practitioner's report follows the level chosen, whether audit, independent review, compilation or none. Any block a person has edited is kept when the draft is rebuilt, so the paragraph explaining the change of year end survives a later trial balance correction.

Rolling forward. Staff can roll a set of statements forward to the next year. Settings, policies, notes and wording are carried across, and every figure is rebuilt from the new trial balance. Adjusting entries, typed comparatives and signatures are not carried forward. For a changed year end, that means the firm reviews the comparative column and the period description after the roll-forward rather than assuming the carried wording still fits a period of a different length.

A changeover checklist

1. Confirm the reason for the change and the new date with the directors.
2. Read section 634 and check the transitional period is allowed in the form proposed.
3. Pass a board resolution and lodge CR42 with BRS.
4. Recalculate the section 684 lodging deadline from the new period end.
5. Recalculate the IT2C due date and any instalment tax dates from the new accounting period.
6. Tell the auditor, the bank and anyone else who relies on the reporting calendar.
7. After rolling forward in Achekam, review the period description, comparatives and the explanation of the change.

Before advising the client

Put the new deadlines in writing in the same letter that confirms the change. A client that knows its first set of statements and its first IT2C fall on new dates is far less likely to miss either.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.