Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.  In developments this week, the Corporate & Insolvency Bar Association is hosting its inaugural annual conference on Friday, 31 March with a drinks reception and dinner taking place after the conference; the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has sent a letter to the European Parliament and Council raising concerns with proposed changes to the insider list regime in the Markets Abuse Regulation. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Audit and Assurance The FRC has issued guidance for audit firms on eligibility criteria in the context of the firm’s system of quality management and the performance of engagements. ISQM (UK) 1 and ISQM (UK) 2 have been reissued with updated footnotes to reflect this guidance. Insolvency The Revenue Commissioners has recently updated Revenue eBrief No. 69/23 on Examinership Caseworking Guidelines. The updates have been made to reflect recent changes to the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (COVID-19) Act 2020 and the European Union (Preventative Restructuring) Regulations 2022. From 17 April 2023, new creditor winding up petitions may be issued in Northern Ireland for the first time since restrictions were imposed in March 2020.  The following new conditions, which did not exist prior to the pandemic, must now be met – (a) the petition must be in the new standard form; (b) the debt must be based on a Court Judgment; and (c) the statutory demand must be made after 13 March 2023. The Corporate & Insolvency Bar Association is hosting its inaugural annual conference on Friday, 31 March. There will be a drinks reception and dinner taking place after the conference. The conference schedule and booking details are available here. Financial Reporting The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has released its March 2023 IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard Update. The IFRS Interpretations Committee has also released its March 2023 update. The IASB has published an exposure draft proposing amendments to the classification and measurement requirements in IFRS 9 Financial Instruments. The proposed amendments respond to feedback received from a post-implementation review of the classification and measurement requirements in IFRS 9, which concluded in December 2022. The comment period will remain open until 19 July 2023. The IASB has added a project to its work plan to explore whether and how companies can provide better information about climate-related risks in their financial statements. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has released its March 2023 update and podcast. The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has published a report ‘Accounting for Intangibles: UK Stakeholders’ Views’. It sets out stakeholder views on the accounting for intangibles under international Accounting Standards within the context of the wider economic impact of intangibles in the UK. Sustainability Correspondence in September 2022 from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to benchmark administrators in the UK highlighted the risk of poor disclosures for ESG benchmarks. The FCA said that high quality ESG benchmarks are important to support trust in the market for ESG products and the transition to a net zero economy. The FCA has completed a preliminary review on ESG benchmarks which found that the overall quality of ESG-related disclosures made by benchmark administrators was poor and it has sent a further letter to administrators outlining the issues identified. These include not enough detail on the ESG factors considered in benchmark methodologies and not fully implementing ESG disclosure requirements.  You can read the follow-on correspondence which details the issues here. The FCA has also indicated that it supports regulation of ESG ratings and is  working closely with Government on this. Anti-Money laundering/Sanctions The UK FIU writes that it has updated and redesigned it's 'Requesting A Defence Under POCA and TACT' guidance document, available on the National Crime Agency (NCA) website. This document is intended to inform of the approach when reporters, through submitting a SAR, seek a defence (or ‘consent’) from the NCA to a principal money laundering offence or terrorist financing offence. The UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) recently updated its guidance on monetary penalties and enforcement (the “Guidance”) to set out its enforcement approach in cases involving ownership and control by designated persons. You can read more here. Other Areas of Interest The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has sent a letter to the European Parliament and Council raising concerns with proposed changes to the insider list regime in the Markets Abuse Regulation. The Department for Communities has  launched a public consultation on a prospective Scheme of Delegation for decisions of the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.  This consultation is accordance with the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, which allows that the Department may make a Scheme of Delegation to permit some of the Commission’s decision-making functions to be delegated to staff, as they are in other jurisdictions. Enterprise Ireland is running a series of webinars focusing on competitiveness. They are running from now until October and will cover a range of issues critical to competitiveness including supply chain management, raising finance and digital adoption. There are also three in-person workshops focused on attracting and retaining talent. Click here for more details in Enterprise Ireland press release and here for full details of the webinar series and workshops . The Central Bank (CBI) spoke at a recent event about its 2023 regulatory and supervisory priorities which include continuing to remain vigilant in assessing and managing the financial and operational resilience of firms and enhancing the Bank’s regulatory and supervisory approaches to mitigate risks from the changing financial system .It also referred to continuing vigilance of the financial system, supervising firms’ compliance with anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing  obligations, detecting and sanctioning market abuse, and enforcing financial sanctions working closely with An Garda Síochána and other relevant bodies in all these areas. CBI recently published its Innovation Hub 2022 update. Established in 2018 it writes; the Innovation Hub gives firms operating in the fintech sector a way to engage with CBI outside of existing formal regulator/firm engagement processes. The crypto/ blockchain sector accounted for 33% of enquiries received last year. You can access the 2022 Innovation Update here. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.

Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.  In developments this week, the Institute’s Financial Reporting Technical Committee has responded to two International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) consultations in the past week. These consultations relate to the IASB’s third edition of the IFRS for SMEs standard and a temporary exception to IAS 12 relating to the potential effects of the OECD’s Pillar Two model rules on the accounting for income taxes. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Insolvency The Corporate & Insolvency Bar Association is hosting its inaugural annual conference on Friday, 31 March. There will be a drinks reception and dinner taking place after the conference. The conference schedule and booking details are available here. Financial Reporting The Institute’s Financial Reporting Technical Committee has responded to two International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) consultations in the past week. These consultations relate to the IASB’s third edition of the IFRS for SMEs standard and a temporary exception to IAS 12 relating to the potential effects of the OECD’s Pillar Two model rules on the accounting for income taxes. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has also issued its response to the above IAS 12 consultation, as have the UK Endorsement Board (UKEB). The UKEB have issued a call for comments on its draft endorsement of two narrow-scope amendments to IAS 1 (Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current and Non-current Liabilities with Covenants). Comments are welcomed by the UKEB until 8 June 2023. IAASA has published a summary of the outcomes of its examinations of financial reports completed in 2022. Sustainability The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has issued a set of Basis for conclusions to compliment the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications has recently launched a set of statutory guidelines to assist local authorities in preparing local authority climate action plans. Click here to read more details of the guidelines, Technical Annex A - Developing and Implementing the Local Authority Climate Action Plan, Technical Annex B - Climate Change Risk Assessment, Technical Annex C - Climate Mitigation Assessment: Baseline Energy Inventory and Technical Annex D - Decarbonising Zones. Anti-Money laundering/Sanctions The European Parliament recently published a briefing paper “EU sanctions on Russia: Overview, impact, challenges”. In it the briefing deals with a number of areas including EU sanctions on Russia: State of play, Sanction effectiveness: Alignment and enforcement, Economic impact of sanctions and the position of the EU Parliament. It lists the types of sanctions imposed and gives an overview of sanctions. It references the economic impact of sanctions. There is also reference to EU enforcement including the EU proposal for a directive on criminal offences/penalties for violation of EU restrictive measures. It also notes that the tenth package of sanctions introduced a new reporting obligation to ensure the effectiveness of the asset freeze prohibitions. Readers may know that in March 2022, the FATF agreed on tougher global beneficial ownership standards in its revised Recommendation 24. It requires countries to ensure that competent authorities have access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date information on the true owners of companies. The FATF has now updated the guidance that will help countries implement the revised Recommendation 24. It writes that the guidance will help countries identify, design and implement appropriate measures in line with the revised Recommendation 24 to ensure that beneficial ownership information is held by a public authority or body functioning as a beneficial ownership registry, or an alternative mechanism that enables efficient access to the information and will also help countries assess and mitigate the money laundering and terrorist financing risks associated with foreign companies to which their countries are exposed. Click here to read a useful summary page on the guidance and to find a link to the guidance. The Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) Task force was set up shortly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It includes various countries and the European Commission. It recently issued a REPO Global Advisory identifying certain typologies of Russian sanctions evasion tactics and issuing recommendations to mitigate the risk of exposure to continued evasion. Typologies identified in the advisory include the use of family members and close associates to ensure continued access and control; the use of complex ownership structures to avoid identification and the use of enablers to avoid involvement and leverage expertise. Read more details in the Advisory on some of these headings and REPO recommendations including following FATF recommendations, complying with AML/CFT laws and regulations and reporting requirements and ensuring that risk assessments are kept up to date. The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) recently issued its latest update of Guidance on submitting better quality suspicious activity reports (SARs). Central Bank of Ireland Following enactment of the Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Act 2023 on 9 March, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) has recently launched a three-month consultation on key aspects of the implementation of the Individual Accountability Framework (IAF), including the publication of draft regulations and guidance. Click here to find more information in CBI’s press release. The draft regulations and guidance seek to provide clarity in terms of CBI expectations for the implementation of three aspects of the framework: the Senior Executive Accountability Regime (SEAR), the Conduct Standards and certain aspects of the enhancements to the Fitness & Probity regime. The full consultation paper, draft regulations and draft guidance are available on the CBI’s website. For convenience the links are set out below: Consultation Paper 153 Enhanced governance, performance and accountability in financial services Regulation and Guidance under the Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Act 2023. Draft Regulations Draft Guidance on the Individual Accountability Framework. In relation to changes to CBI enforcement processes, the enhancements to CBI Fitness and Probity investigation, suspension and prohibition processes will be the subject of separate regulations and guidance which will be published once the underlying legal provisions have been brought into effect. As part of CBI’s phased plan, it will launch a second consultation in respect of changes to its Administrative Sanctions procedure later this year. The Central Bank has included information on proposed implementation periods. It says that to ensure a focus by firms on high quality implementation of the framework, the following implementation period timelines are proposed: Conduct Standards including accountability of senior individuals for running their parts of the business effectively to apply from 31 December 2023; Fitness & Probity Regime - Certification and inclusion of Holding Companies to apply from 31 December 2023; Regulations prescribing responsibilities of different roles and requirements on firms to clearly set out allocation of those responsibilities and decision making to apply to in-scope firms from 1 July 2024. The consultation will remain open for 3 months from 13 March 2023 to 13 June 2023. Responses should be addressed to IAFconsultation@centralbank.ie. and the following subject heading should be included in the email.  “Consultation Paper on the Individual Accountability Framework”. In other CBI news, its Consumer Protection Outlook Report 2023 was published recently. It outlines five key drivers of consumer risk for consumers of financial services in Ireland in this changing and challenging economic environment. Click here to read about them and for a helpful infographic on the subject. CBI has also advertised that it will publish Guidance for (Re)Insurance Undertakings on Climate Change Risk on its website on Thu 16th March and we will provide that link when available. The Pensions Authority and other pension matters The Pensions Authority this week published updated guidance for determining assumptions used in pension benefit statements, as required under regulation 34(4) of the European Union (Occupational Pension Schemes) Regulations 2021. The update maintains consistency with recently revised guidance from the Society of Actuaries in Ireland in relation to pension projections. The latest version of the guidance is available on the pension benefit statement projection assumptions page of the Authority’s website. Also this week the Pensions Authority issued a summary of its regulatory activity for 2022 which you can read here. Readers should take note of an important issue about which the Law Society of Ireland has recently alerted the Pensions Authority and legal practitioners. It relates to the serious effect of new EU pension legislation on death-in-service benefits for former spouses. Please click here for a link to the Law Society’s website which provides the background. In summary the arising issue means that no payment will be made to the beneficiary of a Contingent Benefit Pension Adjustment Order on the death in service of a member of a scheme which has moved to a Master Trust. The Law Society has met with the Irish Pensions Authority and believes that the issue is of such severity that emergency legislation is required. It has also issued a bulletin to practitioners and made available a letter it wrote to the Pensions Authority both of which readers can access by following the above link to its website. Anyone who may potentially be affected by this issue should contact their pension and /or other professional adviser for further advice. Other Areas of Interest The Irish Dept. of Finance recently launched the 1st Action Plan from the updated Ireland for Finance strategy. The strategy sets out the key measures that the public and private stakeholders will take this year to support the further development of the international financial services sector in Ireland. Click here for a press release from the minister of state for financial services credit unions and insurance and here for the Update to Ireland for Finance The strategy for the development of Ireland’s international financial services sector, extended to 2026 Action Plan 2023. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment the national competent authority in Ireland with responsibility for enforcing national and EU controls on the export of sensitive items will host an online event for business and industry representatives about export control compliance inspections on 24 March 2023. These controls form part of a global framework designed to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to preserve regional stability and to protect human rights. Click here to find out more on DETE’s website including examples of sensitive items subject to export control and how to register for the event. The DETE have issued their March Enterprise Newsletter which outlines current applications open re Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund and Enterprise Ireland’s €63 million in funding programmes. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.  

Readers may know that in March 2022, the FATF agreed on tougher global beneficial ownership standards in its revised Recommendation 24. It requires countries to ensure that competent authorities have access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date information on the true owners of companies. The FATF has now updated the guidance that will help countries implement the revised Recommendation 24. It writes that the guidance will help countries identify, design and implement appropriate measures in line with the revised Recommendation 24 to ensure that beneficial ownership information is held by a public authority or body functioning as a beneficial ownership registry, or an alternative mechanism that enables efficient access to the information and will also help countries assess and mitigate the money laundering and terrorist financing risks associated with foreign companies to which their countries are exposed. Click here to read a useful summary page on the guidance and to find a link to the guidance. This information is provided as resources and information only and nothing in these pages 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 pages. 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 these pages, 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 in these pages.

In February 2023 the UK government updated its guidance on supplying professional and business services to a person connected with Russia. Readers will recall that during 2022 legislation was passed outlawing the direct or indirect provision of accounting services and audit services to a person connected with Russia. The guidance outlines the two exceptions to the ban on audit services and if an audit firm signed an audit engagement letter prior to 16 December 2022, the firm has until 31 May 2023 to complete the audit. However, the firm must notify the Secretary of State that they will be completing the work by 15 March 2023. While the guidance has a caveat that individual firms must take their own legal advice as to whether their activity falls within scope of the sanctions it also gives guidance on some common audit scenarios. This information is provided as resources and information only and nothing in these pages 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 pages. 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 these pages, 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 in these pages.  

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has released a series of 20 educational videos on the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs). These videos provide some useful guidance in the form of short "glimpses" and longer "educational sessions" which will help viewers gain an understanding of the requirements as set out in the ESRSs. The ESRSs , which were subject to public consultation in 2022 set out the sustainability reporting requirements which will be phased in over time for different kinds of companies, with the first reporters doing so for years commencing on or after 1 January 2024.

Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.  In developments this week, the CCAB-I Insolvency Committee has recently made a submission to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on their call for views in response to the proposal for an EU directive harmonising certain aspects of insolvency law; the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, held its plenary meeting on 22/24 February and has now published the outcomes on its website. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Audit and Assurance The Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA) has published its 2021 Annual Audit Programme and Activity Report. This report provides a summary of the activities performed by IAASA during 2021 to oversee the audit profession in Ireland. The report outlines the outcome of IAASA’s quality assurance review of auditors of public–interest entities as well as IAASA’s oversight of the recognised accountancy bodies who supervise auditors of other Irish entities. Insolvency The CCAB-I Insolvency Committee has recently made a submission to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on their call for views in response to the proposal for an EU directive harmonising certain aspects of insolvency law. This submission which is available to read here was generally supportive of further harmonisation of existing avoidance actions across the EU. The Corporate & Insolvency Bar Association is hosting its inaugural annual conference on Friday, 31 March. There will be a drinks reception and dinner taking place after the conference. The conference schedule and booking details are available here. Financial Reporting The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a thematic review on the Big 4 audit firms’ methodology around IFRS 9, focussing on the audit of Expected Credit Losses for larger banks. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has released a report with the key messages and discussion points covered at the January 2023 IFASS (International Forum of Accounting Standard Setters) meeting. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has issued its February 2023 update and monthly podcast. The IFRS Foundation has released its February 2023 monthly news summary which includes details of meetings held, decisions made and activities during the month. The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has issued a draft comment letter on the IASB’s exposure draft International Tax Reform – Pillar Two Model Rules. Comments are welcome by the UKEB until close of business on 3 March 2023. Sustainability Momentum builds for corporate ESG disclosure and assurance, yet reporting inconsistencies linger. The largest global companies continue to show momentum on corporate reporting and related assurance involving environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, according to a new report from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and AICPA & CIMA. Significant hurdles remain, however, when it comes to providing consistent, comparable and high-quality sustainability information for investors and lenders. CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) Ireland has published its Annual Report 2022 "Alignment of Climate, ESG & Financial Disclosures: Global Sustainability Standards and Regulations align to Provide Greater ESG Transparency and Focus". The report is available at https://lnkd.in/eUr4tsrH and provides insights into how Irish companies are addressing ESG topics.  CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. In Accountancy Europe’s latest article from their ‘Insights from SME accountants’ series, Anton Schmidl and Thomas Wallner from Crowe SOT in Austria discuss how they support SMEs with their sustainable transition, including what auditors and accountants can so to help SMEs. Anti-Money laundering/Sanctions The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, held its plenary meeting on 22/24 February and has now published the outcomes which can be accessed on its website here. These include suspension of Russia's membership of FATF, strategic initiatives on beneficial ownership and dealing with High-risk and other monitored jurisdictions. The European Commission welcomes the Council's adoption of a 10th package of sanctions against Russia and those that support it in its illegal aggression against Ukraine. 24 February marks one year since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and 9 years since the beginning of Russia's illegal invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory. This package is turning up the pressure in response to Putin's brutal war, including viciously targeting civilians and critical infrastructure. Other Areas of Interest Decision Support Service It has recently been confirmed that a full commencement of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 will take place on 26 April 2023. The full operationalisation of the Decision Support Service  will then take place when people can interact with the new service. The DSS teams are available to answer any queries in advance of its commencement on 01 2119750 or queries@decisionsupportservice.ie. NI Charity Consultation The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is developing a new strategic plan alongside a new engagement strategy, both of which are being undertaken following the Independent Review of Charity Regulation commissioned by the Minister for Communities in January 2021. The European Commission published on 15 February a Handbook of good practices in the fight against corruption. The goal of this handbook is to map a variety of anti-corruption practices in EU Member States (MS) that have proved to be useful in solving problems related to corruption, and which can inspire similar initiatives elsewhere. For this purpose, one good anti-corruption practice either established or innovative, with positive impact aspirations in each EU Member State was selected, and clustered into eight types of anti-corruption approaches. Readers may recall our news piece on the publication by the Law Reform Commission of a  consultation paper on liability of clubs, societies and other unincorporated associations. As the consultation paper has generated considerable interest, and to facilitate as many consultees as possible making submissions in response to the questions posed in the consultation paper, the Commission has decided to extend the submission deadline from March 2023 to 15 May 2023. Accountancy Europe has released a factsheet highlighting the main provisions in the OECD Pillar Two GloBE (Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules) proposals. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.