Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.
In developments this week, the Financial Reporting Council has published a revised Audit Enforcement Procedure (“AEP”) and feedback statement. This follows consideration of the responses received to the consultation launched on 22 July 2021 regarding proposed amendments to the AEP; on Friday 10th December, EFRAG along with BusinessEurope and the IASB are holding a joint webinar entitled “Future of IFRS disclosure requirements: What we learnt from the field test with European preparers”
Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.
Auditing
IAASA has published a thematic paper discussing the use of data analytics in Ireland’s statutory audit market. This paper provides an overview of the areas where auditors perform data analytical audit procedures and supports in place for auditors in using data analysis tools and discusses challenges faced by auditors when using data.
The FRC has published a revised Audit Enforcement Procedure (“AEP”) and feedback statement. This follows consideration of the responses received to the consultation launched on 22 July 2021 regarding proposed amendments to the AEP. A link to the revised AEP is available here.
The FRC has announced its areas of supervisory focus for 2022/23, including priority sectors, for corporate reporting reviews and audit quality inspections.
- The FRC’s Supervision Corporate Reporting Review team will supplement its routine reviews of corporate reporting with six thematic reviews. These reviews will identify scope for improvement, as well as examples of better practice, in areas of key stakeholder interest.
- The FRC’s Supervision Audit Quality Review team will pay particular attention in its reviews to areas including climate-related risks, fraud risks, and cash and cash flow statements.
The FRC has published a Collection of Perspectives, following the FRC Culture Conference held in June 2021 that brought together a wide range of international experts to explore the important link between culture and high-quality audit.
Financial Reporting
The IASB has issued a proposed IFRS Taxonomy Update, 'IFRS Taxonomy 2021 Proposed Update 2 — Technology Update'.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has announced its areas of supervisory focus for 2022/23, including priority sectors, for corporate reporting reviews and audit quality inspections.
On Friday 10th December, EFRAG along with BusinessEurope and the IASB are holding a joint webinar entitled “Future of IFRS disclosure requirements: What we learnt from the field test with European preparers”.
In his address to delegates at the AICPA and CIMA conference on 7th December in Washington, Andreas Barckow, chair of the IASB discussed sustainability, the IASB’s current and future work programme and convergence.
The FRC has issued FRED 79- FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework – 2021/22 cycle, which proposes no amendments to FRS 101 as a result of its latest annual review. Comments on FRED 79 are requested by 1 March 2022.
Insolvency
The Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Mirco Companies) Act 2021, which provides for the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP) was commenced on Tuesday, 7 December 2021.
The commencement order, associated regulations and prescribed forms will be available on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s website in the coming days.
Further information about the process can be found on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s website.
Other Areas of Interest
In February 2021, the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) published a perspectives paper 'Challenges to Market Value' that looked at the challenges in relation to the availability of market information in a pandemic world. A broad range of feedback was received in relation to the paper that has prompted the IVSC to publish a second paper in the series.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has published its latest edition of its Spotlight on Markets Newsletter.
The Pensions Regulator recently made a presentation to IAPF Governance Conference on the Authority’s Code of Practice. They talked about pension scheme governance, the Code of Practice and why it is needed and that it sets out the Pension Authority’s expectation of trustees .You can read a copy of the presentation here and click here for the Code of Practice.
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications recently published Cyber Security Baseline Standards and associated implementation guidelines for use by Public Service Bodies. The main goal of the standards is to improve the resilience and security of information and communications technology infrastructure and systems (ICT) in Public Service Bodies. Follow this link to the publication and read Minister Ossian Smyth’s comments on the publication here .
A salutary lesson from the UK shows how organisations must ensure they get the basics of their data security correct. Due to tight timescales and a new IT system in the UK Cabinet Office, a mistake was made which resulted in the disclosure of hundreds of postal addresses online. There was no specific or written process in place at the time to sign off documents and content containing personal data prior to being sent for publication. The error resulted in a fine of £500,000 by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) the ICO commenting that the Cabinet Office’s complacency and failure to mitigate the risk of a data breach meant that hundreds of people were potentially exposed to the risk of identity fraud and threats to their personal safety. You can read here what the ICO said and here for details of the monetary penalty notice.
The Minister for Enterprise Trade & Employment recently announced that the interim period of the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Covid-19) Act 2020 is extended to 30 April 2022. The Act makes temporary amendments to the Companies Act 2014 and the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893 to address issues arising as a result of Covid-19. It allows companies and industrial and provident societies in Ireland to hold their AGMs and general meetings online, increases the period of an examinership to 150 days and increases the threshold at which a company is deemed unable to pay its debts to €50,000.
The Dept of Enterprise Trade & Employment has recently published its December newsletter. Topics covered include the commencement of SCARP legislation, a reminder of the National Minimum Wage increase on 1 January 2022,a masterclass on 14 December next held by Enterprise Ireland (registration required) for those looking to upskill for export growth and who want access to development of selling skills and a webinar on 11 January 2022 on patenting trends.
In its recent article entitled “Sustainability reporting: Why should SMEs care”, Johan Baros, EU Policy Manager at Accountancy Europe discusses the role of the SME and how they should prepare for sustainability reporting.
On December 6th, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) published its vision for high-quality assurance of sustainability information—calling out best practices identified during its year-long, global engagement campaign related to the State of Play in Sustainability Assurance. This vision addresses the importance of global standards, regulation that supports decision-useful disclosure, and the value of an interconnected approach to sustainability and financial information reporting and assurance.
FATF recently held a conference on environmental crime which included as participants heads of international organisations such as the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN Environment Programme. FATF President Dr. Marcus Pleyer called for a global push to take the illicit profits out of environmental crimes and participants discussed how to develop partnerships to tackle the dirty money that helps fuel environmental crimes. You can follow the link here to view videos of various speakers.
For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub and the Covid-19 Hub on the Institute website.
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