Ireland practice

Ireland practice
In the Irish Republic, a registered CIMA member in practice is not an auditor - the requirement in Ireland is currently that above a fairly low audit threshold, a company's accounts must be audited.

However, under the investment funds, companies and miscellaneous provisions Act 2006, Part III of the companies (Amendment) (No. 2) act 1999 was amended to allow private companies with an annual turnover of up to €7.3 million (€3.65 million balance sheet total) to produce annual accounts and to file annual returns without an audit, subject to certain conditions, and in line with EU guidelines.

In real terms, this opens up this lower end of the market to registered CIMA members in practice.

Below the threshold it appears that the intervention of a qualified accountant is not currently a requirement of the companies registration office.

However, legislation is anticipated which may give legal status to the title 'accountant' in the context of the provision of accounting services to the public. If this happens, it would have the probable effect of limiting the provision of such services to accountants who are members of or are regulated by the professional bodies prescribed by the government and overseen by IAASA.

As far as individual accounts are concerned, the same rule would seem to apply. On the CRO website, you can access information note 15, which relates to registration as an electronic filing agent for company accounts; this is under section 57 of the investment Funds, companies and miscellaneous provisions act of 2005: "a company may authorise a person to be its electronic filing agent". In other words, although you may not be required to authorise a small company's accounts, you can be permitted to file them.

Irish Tax and Customs will take you to legislation such as the finance acts 2004, 2005 and 2006, plus a wealth of guidance leaflets and publications.