(1) The liquidators are to prepare, for the commencement of the process of winding up the company, a balance sheet (opening balance sheet) and a report explaining the opening balance sheet and, as per the end of each year, annual financial statements and a management report.
(2) The general meeting resolves on the approval of the opening balance sheet and of the annual financial statements as well as on the approval of the actions taken by the liquidators and the members of the supervisory board and the discharge granted to same. The provisions governing the annual financial statements are to be applied accordingly to the opening balance sheet and the explanatory report. However, items of property making up the fixed assets are to be valued as if they were current assets insofar as it is intended to dispose of them within a foreseeable period of time or insofar as these assets no longer serve the company’s business operations; this also applies to the annual financial statements.
(3) The court may grant a release from the obligation to have the annual financial statements and the management report audited by a statutory auditor if the circumstances of the company are so easily surveyed that, in the interests of the creditors and stockholders, an audit does not appear to be required. A complaint may be lodged against the decision taken.