It means the calendar year - 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2016

So this is actually different from the company's fiscal tax year. The IRS says that no company can end their fiscal year on December 31st. This is for an audit report so it's 12 months back from December 31st. So in this case, it is from Jan 1st to Dec 31st. From what I understand, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board only does external audits as a government funded organization. Basically, that means the if the company in question had problems in the report - they have 12 months from receiving the report to clear it up before the report is made public if I am correct. You might call up a private accounting firm and a tax lawyer if you have any future problems - I am only a business major nor an accounting major.

"Then" in "the year then ended" seems to refer to the date given earlier in the sentence, "December 31, 2016." If the fiscal year of ******* Limited, Inc. ends on December 31, then Fiscal 2016 would be the year referred to. If ******* Limited, Inc. ends its fiscal year on some other date (June 30 and September 30 are common fiscal year ending dates), then whether the board is referring to the fiscal or the calendar year would be an accounting question that I can't answer. (Edit: But I think Christian Schmidt can - see his answer.)

Thanks! \(^o^)/~

THANK YOU! (*^__^*)