Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.
In developments this week, the Financial Action Task Force is holding a plenary session of meetings this 1-4 March 2022. Key issues include revisions to the FATF Recommendations to strengthen transparency of beneficial ownership information and the Financial Reporting Council has issued a consultation on proposed changes to its statutory Guidance to the Recognised Supervisory Bodies (RSBs) on the recognition of Key Audit Partners for local audit.
Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.
The latest Technical Representations issued by Chartered Accountants Ireland can be viewed here.
Financial Reporting
The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and The European Federation of Financial Analysist Societies (EFFAS) are hosting a webinar on Tuesday 29 March 2022 to discuss users’ directions for better information on intangibles.
EFRAG has published its Final Comment Letter in response to the IASB's Exposure Draft ED/2021/7 Subsidiaries without Public Accountability: Disclosures. It has also made available its February 2022 update summarising public technical discussions held and decisions taken during the month.
The UK Endorsement Board has also published its Final Comment Letter in response to the IASB's Exposure Draft ED/2021/7 Subsidiaries without Public Accountability: Disclosures.
The UK Endorsement Board has released a recording of its February 2022 meeting.
Accountancy Europe have released their 2021 Annual Report.
The IASB has released its February 2022 update, meeting notes from its SME Implementations group January meeting and its February 2022 monthly news summary.
The IFRS Foundation have signed a memoranda of understanding to establish the presence of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in Frankfurt.
Auditing
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a consultation on proposed changes to its statutory Guidance to the Recognised Supervisory Bodies (RSBs) on the recognition of Key Audit Partners for local audit.
IAASA has published its 2021 quality assurance review report in respect of seven firms that perform statutory audits of public-interest entities in Ireland.
Accounting
Following their February 2022 meeting, the IASB work plan has been revised to see what changes have resulted from the meetings and other developments since it was last reviewed in January.
Financial Sanctions, Anti-Money laundering and Economic Crime
Chartered Accountants Ireland, Professional Standards department, together with the other members of CCAB Ireland have issued a joint statement to the profession following recent and ongoing developments in Ukraine. This guidance considers members’ obligations in relation to sanctions, ethical considerations and obligations under AML legislation.
The UK government has recently brought forward the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The draft legislation proposes to establish a new Register of Overseas Entities which will require anonymous foreign owners of UK property to reveal their real identities. It also proposes reforms to the Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWO) regime including expanding the definition of an assets holder to ensure individuals cannot hide behind opaque shell companies and foundations. You can read more about the proposals on the UK government website and click the following link here to read a fact sheet on the Register of Overseas Entities. The legislative proposals are accompanied by a new white paper on corporate transparency and register reform .This provides further details of changes in the law that the government will pursue in a further Economic Crime Bill.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is holding a plenary session of meetings this 1-4 March 2022. Key issues include revisions to the FATF Recommendations to strengthen transparency of beneficial ownership information. Delegates will also deal with other matters such as finalising a report that focuses on the money laundering and terrorist financing risks arising from migrant smuggling.
The Egmont Group which is an international network of Financial Intelligence Units recently announced the launch of its new website and that of Egmont Centre of Excellence and Leadership (ECOFEL) .You can read about new features of the websites here including a Frequently Asked Questions page and an improved Resources section designed to optimize finding key EG documents.
The managing director of the UK Payment Systems Regulator spoke recently at a Counter Fraud Conference on mitigating public sector fraud. He spoke about Authorised Push Payment (APP) Fraud and how to prevent it. He also referred to the PSR’s recent action on fraud, the next phase of PSR action and how the online safety bill, a first step into greater regulation of online content, will start to create responsibilities on the part of social media platforms for the content they host – including content from criminals.
IFAC & ICAEW have released the 7th instalment of their Anti-Money Laundering, the basics series, entitled “Virtual Assets”.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) publicised recently how it is taking assertive action to tackle harm in the consumer investments market. You can read more about it in their press release here including details of the ScamSmart campaign which encourages those considering investing to check its dedicated website. The site features an online tool, and the Warning List, which allows users to find out more about the risks associated with an investment and view a list of firms the FCA knows are operating without its authorisation.
Other Areas of Interest
Following our news piece last week readers will know that certain Companies Registration Office forms are mandatory online filings only from March 1st. The CRO has put some new 'how to' videos on its CRO YouTube page explaining how to file some of the CRO latest online forms. Please follow this link to find them - CRO - YouTube
The Irish Charities Regulator (Regulator) has proposed a classification standard for regulated charities. It envisages that a charity would select primary and secondary classification categories into which it would fall, for example social community services or health .Details of the proposed classification standard can be found here. The Regulator suggests that benefits which might accrue from classification include for example facilitating the production of better statistics and information for study and comparison of charities. The Regulator has now opened a public consultation seeking feedback on the proposed standard from charities and the general public. It is open until 15 April 2022. You can find more details and participate here.
Eurofi is a European think tank dedicated to financial services. Views and contributions are provided by key public and private sector decision-makers to issues and proposals of Eurofi. It recently held a three day event in Paris. You can find details of the programme and sessions here. It covered many diverse topics including sustainability and anti-money laundering. The Irish Finance Minister and Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe contributed to the session on how to improve Economic and Monetary Union. Other speakers included commissioner Mairead Mc Guinness and Derville Rowland of the Irish Central Bank. Eurofi publishes a bi-annual Eurofi Magazine which is a large volume but some of the topics covered or contributors may be of interest to members and the February 2022 edition is available now.
CCAB-I recently responded to a consultation held by the Department of Enterprise Trade & Employment on the operation and implementation of the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1893 – 2014. This is the legislation which currently regulates co-operative societies. While work on the legislation is ongoing and there have been two previous consultations in 2009 and 2016, the Department is finalising proposals for comprehensive, substantive and complex new legislation on co-operatives. The consultation was on certain aspects of the proposed new legislation for example on audit exemption and financial statements. CCAB-I response was somewhat limited due to time constraints and details of the consultation can be found here.
Enterprise Ireland is running a six-part webinar series “Equity Matters”. The series will help Enterprise Ireland clients understand investor motivations, investment terms, share rights and how to develop long term strategies for managing equity. The webinars will include discussion on topics such as early-stage investors, the benefits and disadvantages of each investor type and investor type fit with long term funding strategy. Another one will discuss share transfers, decision making rights and restricted transactions. You can find out more details about the webinars and how to register by clicking this link.
The Department of Enterprise Trade & Employment recently issued its Enterprise newsletter for March 2022.In it you will find information of interest such as the European Commission consultation on upgrading digital company law which closes 8 April and InterTradeIreland’s Venture Capital Conference 2022 which will be held on 14-15 March giving an insight into the Venture Capital Industry and current themes and trends .Click into the newsletter to register.
For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.
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