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Irish Independent

Accounting watchdog examined 33 financial statements last year

The number compares to 43 the year before. The IAASA sets the standards that govern statutory audits and sustainability assurance in Ireland. It also supervises how prescribed accountancy bodies regulate and monitor their members. Under the EU Transparency Directive, the agency also acts as Ireland's corporate reporting supervisor. It also conducts investigations under the Companies Act into matters including whether prescribed accountancy bodies have complied with an approved investigation and disciplinary procedures. The IAASA issued a release yesterday comprising of just one brief slide to demonstrate its activity during 2023 and 2024. It said it raised 84 matters with issuers – typically companies – during 2024, compared to 82 in 2023. It published just one financial reporting decision last year, compared to six in 2023. The number of voluntary undertakings from issuers rose to 65 last year, compared to 56 in 2023. According to the slide issued by IAASA, the most frequently raised matters with issuers last year continued to be those under transparency legislation, with 13 such matters having been highlighted. That was down from 14 in 2023. Last week, the agency published decisions regarding accounting treatments applied by Irish stock market-listed insulation giant Kingspan in its 2023 financial statements. In November 2022, the European Commission opened an investigation to determine whether the Kingspan intentionally or negligently supplied incomplete, incorrect and/or misleading information during the EC's investigation of the issuer's proposed acquisition of Trimo, a Slovenian-based roofing and insulation materials manufacturer. Kingspan did not disclose in its annual financial reports for 2022 and 2023 that the EC had opened the probe. ADVERTISEMENT The company had a number of reasons for not disclosing the investigation as a contingent liability in its annual financial statements for 2022 and 2023, including that they believed the likelihood of a material fine being imposed was remote, and that disclosures were therefore not required. The IAASA determined there was not sufficient evidence to conclude that disclosure of the contingent liability was required by Kingspan. The company made a voluntary undertaking to include additional statements in future financial reports to reference the regulatory and reputational risks associated within its merger and acquisition strategy.