In developments since the last edition, the Institute has responded to the Financial Reporting Council’s consultation on the proposed International Standard on Auditing for Less Complex Entities (ISA for LCE), emphasising the importance of a more proportionate and practical auditing framework. The Institute has also responded to the European Commission’s call for views on both the European Sustainability Reporting Standards and the sustainability reporting standard for voluntary use. The Institute’s Professional Accountancy team and Insolvency Committee has recently published Technical Alert 03 2026 Ethical considerations for Insolvency Practitioners which is supplementary in nature and is intended to assist members in understanding and applying the ethical requirements of the Code of Ethics in an insolvency context in the Republic of Ireland.
Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.
Financial Reporting
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has concluded its annual review of FRS 101 and has issued ’Amendments to FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework – 2025/26 cycle’.
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has published its May 2026 update and podcast.
The IASB has issued its new standard IFRS 20 ‘Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities' which is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2029. The standard will affect companies subject to rate regulation that determines how much a company can charge customers and when it can charge them. IFRS 20 supplements the information a company provides when applying IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers and replaces IFRS 14 Regulatory Deferral Accounts. For further information on this, please see the IASB’s IFRS 20 at a glance document as well as their webcast which provides an overview of the standard.
Following the issuance of IFRS 20, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has updated its Endorsement Status Report.
The IFRS Foundation has published its 14th Compilation of Agenda Decisions issued by the IFRS Interpretations Committee.
In December 2025 the IASB published an exposure draft IASB/ED/2025/1 ‘Risk Mitigation Accounting (Proposed amendments to IFRS 9 and IFRS 7)’ with comments requested by 31 July 2026. The comment letter deadline has now been extended to 30 November 2026.
EFRAG has published its Annual Review 2025 which focusses on the organisation’s key achievements and strategic developments over the past year.
EFRAG has published its feedback statement on its final comment letter issued in response to the Exposure Draft ED/2026/1 Amendments to the Fair Value Option for Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures
The UK Endorsement Board has issued an updated version of the 2026 UK-adopted IFRS Standards. This corrects an administrative error contained in the text of IAS 39 Financial Instruments of the previous version.
Insolvency
The Professional Accountancy team and Insolvency Committee has recently published Technical Alert 03 2026 Ethical considerations for Insolvency Practitioners. This Technical Alert is supplementary in nature and is intended to assist members in understanding and applying the ethical requirements of the Code of Ethics in an insolvency context in the Republic of Ireland. This guidance document is not a substitute for the Code of Ethics, and it is intended to highlight certain ethical requirements in the style of Questions and Answers relating to insolvency practice.
Auditing and Assurance
Less Complex Entities. Chartered Accountants Ireland has responded to the Financial Reporting Council’s consultation on the proposed International Standard on Auditing for Less Complex Entities (ISA for LCE), emphasising the importance of a more proportionate and practical auditing framework. The submission highlights the potential for the standard to reduce unnecessary complexity while maintaining audit quality, improve scalability for practitioners, and support the attractiveness and sustainability of statutory audit for less complex entities.
Narrow-scope amendments to ISA (UK) 620 and ISAE (UK) 3000. In order to maintain UK alignment with international auditing and assurance standards, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has launched a consultation on “Using the Work of an Auditor’s Expert”, seeking stakeholder views on narrow-scope amendments to ISA (UK) 620 and ISAE (UK) 3000. These proposed amendments respond to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)’s recently approved revisions to its International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, which introduced explicit ethical requirements for using the work of external experts in audit, assurance, and non-assurance engagements. Comments are requested by 10 July.
On 14 May 2026, the FRC hosted a webinar on Practice Note (PN) 28 for SME audits. The webinar covered how the PN was created, the considerations taken to ensure its appropriateness for the current audit landscape, and the FRC's plan to engage with auditors further on its application.
The FRC announced an expansion of its sandbox programme, inviting audit firms and companies to work directly with the regulator to explore new technologies and innovation in audit technology including AI, simplify annual reporting, and reduce unnecessary burdens in the audit market. The FRC also published the output from its sandbox initiative on materiality for SMEs.
IAASA has published its Annual Audit Programme and Activity Report 2025, providing an overview of their oversight of the audit profession in Ireland during the year.
The report:
- Summarises IAASA’s supervision of auditors and recognised accountancy bodies
- Presents the findings from the quality assurance reviews of public-interest entity auditors
- Outlines enforcement activity during 2025
- Sets out IAASA’s planned regulatory engagement and priorities for 2026
Revised Auditing Standards
IAASA has published a feedback paper and revised certain Irish auditing and quality management standards following a public consultation. Please see the revised standards. As discussed in the feedback paper all respondents agreed that it is in the public interest that IAASA makes these revisions and were supportive of the proposed effective date of 15 December 2026.
Key changes:
- Replacing “listed entity” with “publicly traded entity”
- Updating disclosures on additional ethical requirements for audits of public interest and publicly traded entities
These updates align with recent IAASB changes and apply across a range of ISAs (Ireland) and ISQMs.
Sustainability
Chartered Accountants Ireland has responded to the two European Commission’s (EC’s) call for views. (1) The draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). While welcoming the finalisation of the ESRS, the Institute has called for the EC to pursue some long-term goals while the standards are maturing. This includes ensuring that reporting entities have a period of stability where the standards remain unchanged and a greater focus on long term alignment with other global sustainability reporting standards. (2) The sustainability reporting standards for voluntary use. We outlined in our response that there is concern that the voluntary standard may not meet stakeholder needs or deliver sufficient value chain information and that the EC should monitor its effectiveness and uptake, and act if it falls short of its objectives. There may be gaps between the voluntary standard and requirements under the ESRS, particularly on value chain data.
Accountancy Europe has provided its feedback to the European Commission’s draft delegated act with the revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) recently released a podcast hosted by ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber and ISSB Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd discussing the latest developments around the ISSB.
Anti-money laundering
The work of the EU’s Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) on substantive delivery on its mandates continues. AMLA recently released a report of the Chair's Bruna Szego 2025 EU-wide Roadshow (between March and December 2025), documenting AMLA's first systematic engagement with supervisors, financial intelligence units, and private sector representatives across all 27 EU Member States.
AMLA Executive Board Member Rikke-Louise Petersen delivered a keynote speech at the ACAMS General Assembly in Frankfurt on 12 May 2025, outlining AMLA's progress and priorities for the year ahead.
AMLA’s first conference titled 'Building Trust, Enhancing Integrity: A New Chapter in the EU’s Fight Against Financial Crime' will take place on 9 June 2026 in Frankfurt, Germany.
One focus of AMLA in 2026 is on developing regulatory technical standards (RTS) and guidelines (Level 2 and Level 3 measures) that will support a consistent and harmonised approach across the Union. Please refer to the AMLA's website where readers can find out more. The following draft RTS and guidelines may be of interest to readers:
Central Bank of Ireland (CBI)
The CBI published its most recent Financial Stability Review assessing the risks and outlook for the Irish financial system.
Artificial Intelligence
The European Commission recently issued draft guidelines for providers and deployers clarifying the classification of artificial intelligence (AI) high-risk systems and a list of practical examples for stakeholder feedback. It has also launched a targeted consultation seeking feedback on the clarity of the guidelines and usefulness of the examples. The consultation is open until 23 June 2026.
Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation, Niamh Smyth recently launched the “AI - Good for Business” initiative, to support Irish businesses adopting artificial intelligence into their day-to-day work.
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) published its response to the government on safe AI-powered innovation.
Cybersecurity
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in Ireland launched a new dedicated website designed specifically to support SMEs across Ireland in strengthening their cyber security resilience.
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) published a press release regarding joint guidance on 'Careful adoption of agentic AI services'. The joint guidance was co-authored by the NCSC with international partners, which sets out why organisations should start small, use agents only for low-risk tasks, and apply established cyber security controls from the outset.
The UK's NCSC published an article on '10 questions to ask when using AI models to find vulnerabilities'.
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) published a blog highlighting 'Five steps to protect your organisation from AI-powered cyber threats.'
The EU's NIS Cooperation Group (comprising of EU Member States, the European Commission, and the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA)) recently agreed on common templates for incident reporting to simply NIS2 compliance and reporting obligations.
The UK's FCA, Bank of England, and Treasury published a joint statement on frontier AI models and implications for cyber security and operational resilience.
ENISA published its NIS360 report, which aims to work as an annual assessment tool supporting national authorities, policymakers and other stakeholders in assessing the cybersecurity maturity and criticality of high criticality sectors under the EU's NIS2 Directive (Directive 2022/2555). Please also refer to the summary press release regarding the NIS360 report.
Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)
The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA) published their first annual overview of major ICT-related incidents in the EU financial sector based on a reporting mechanism established by the DORA. It shows that ICT risks are increasingly borderless and interconnected. The authorities also note that the recent evolution of highly capable AI-driven tools should encourage financial entities to strengthen cybersecurity measures to maintain their resilience going forward.
Data Protection
Businesses across the UK need to establish a data protection complaints process, before new legal requirements come into force on 19 June 2026. From that date, all organisations will be legally required to handle data protection complaints under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. The UK's ICO is urging businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to read relevant guidance now and take the straightforward steps needed to comply.
Internal Audit
The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (Chartered IIA) in the UK and Ireland published the Risk in Focus 2026/27 Interim report. This report provides an early view of the survey results from 797 Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) and senior internal auditors into the risks that organisations across Europe and the UK expect to face and how internal audit functions are responding. The interim report notes that the top three ranked risks include cybersecurity, digital disruption/AI, and macroeconomic/geopolitical uncertainty.
Chartered IIA in the UK and Ireland also published a report regarding 'The Future of the Internal Audit Profession' in the context of digital transformation, global uncertainty, and evolving organisational expectations.
Chartered IIA in the UK and Ireland recently published a blog on the importance of interpersonal skills for internal auditors particularly in the context of AI.
Other News
IAASA has published its annual “Profile of the Profession” report for 2025. This analysis provides an interesting statistical profile of accountancy in Ireland and covers membership, students, regulation and monitoring.
The International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) has issued a new perspectives paper ‘Managing and Communicating Value Uncertainty’ that examines the difference between valuation risk and value uncertainty.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued finalised guidance to support pension scheme actuaries in providing retrospective confirmation to validate historic changes to pension scheme rules.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a consultation on the updated guidelines on standardised procedures and messaging protocols. This review is part of ESMA’s work to support market participants in preparing for the transition to a T+1 settlement cycle.
The European Commission launched a public consultation seeking feedback on the functioning of the EU’s regulatory framework on crypto‑assets, the Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation (MiCA). The consultation seeks feedback on the main building blocks of MiCA and includes both a public consultation for individuals and a targeted consultation covering more technical and legal questions for stakeholders.
The European Commission has put forward the European technological sovereignty package, which is a set of measures to strengthen the EU’s capacity in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and open source. It will help Europe become a leader in AI, strengthen its digital autonomy, and help build a more sustainable digital future.
For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.
This information is provided as resources and information only and nothing in the information purports to provide professional advice or definitive legal interpretation(s) or opinion(s) on the applicable legislation or legal or other matters referred to in the information. If the reader is in doubt on any matter in this complex area further legal or other advice must be obtained. While every reasonable care has been taken by the Institute in the preparation of the information, we do not guarantee the accuracy or veracity of any resource, guidance, information or opinion, or the appropriateness, suitability or applicability of any practice or procedure contained therein. The Institute is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of the resources or information contained herein.
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