On 25th February 2010, the Tánaiste signed into law Statutory Instrument 83 of 2010, amending Statutory Instrument 450 ('European Communities (Directive 2006/46/EC) Regulations 2009') ('SI 450'). SI 450 gave effect to new financial reporting and corporate governance disclosure requirements as contained in a European Directive of the same name.
SI 83 clarifies the effective dates of the various provisions, and their scope, contained in SI 450. It also aligns the role of the auditor in reporting on the new corporate governance disclosures with the provisions of the underlying EU Directive. The amending SI has immediate effect and partially defers a number of the provisions of SI 450.
The requirement for certain listed companies to make a corporate governance statement, including identifying the particular code applied and commenting on the extent of compliance applies to accounting periods which end or after 18 November 2009.
However, the requirement to include in the above a description of risk management and internal controls over the financial reporting process applies to periods beginning on or after 18 November 2009, as do the statutory auditor obligations in this regard. It should be noted that the previous wording of the auditor responsibilities has been amended to reflect the underlying EU Directive requirements.
Where a company chooses to prepare a separate corporate governance statement, the obligation on the statutory auditor to state that this prepares the required information applies for periods ending on or after 18 November 2009.
Note that the application of the above requirements as regards funds applies to periods beginning on or after 18 November 2009.
SI 83 of 2010 is expected to be available on the DETE website shortly.