Roundup

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.  

Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.  In developments this week, the CCAB-I Insolvency Committee have published Technical Alert 01/2023 Help sheet for Insolvency Practitioners on the impact of Sanctions. This provides information on the legal obligation not to transfer funds or make funds or economic resources available, directly, or indirectly, to any person or entity that has been sanctioned under EU financial sanctions. In addition, the International Accounting Standards Board has concluded its project on improving its approach to developing and drafting disclosure requirements.  Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Audit and Assurance IAASA has published the 2022 quality assurance review reports in respect of seven firms that perform statutory audits of public-interest entities. In Ireland, public-interest entities include listed companies and companies that operate in the banking and insurance sectors.  The reports can be accessed here. Insolvency The CCAB-I Insolvency Committee published Technical Alert 01/2023 Help sheet for Insolvency Practitioners on the impact of Sanctions yesterday. This help sheet provides information on the legal obligation not to transfer funds or make funds or economic resources available, directly, or indirectly, to any person or entity that has been sanctioned under EU financial sanctions. It also provides some examples of exposure risks for Insolvency Practitioners and how to mitigate such risks. The Insolvency Technical Committee – Northern Ireland has recently responded to the Financial Conduct Authority’s consultation entitled CP23/5: Debt packagers: feedback on CP21/30 and further consultation on new rules and perimeter guidance. We are broadly supportive of the FCA’s efforts with regards to ensuring that over indebted individuals receive appropriate advice with regards to available debt solutions although we do have some concerns with regards to the proposals in CP21/30 which are outlined in our response. 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 European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued its User Update which providers users of financial and sustainability statements with information about EFRAG's main publications, discussions held and decisions taken since the previous update on corporate reporting. EFRAG has also issued its February 2023 update to inform constituents about due process publications, public technical discussions held and decisions taken during the month. EFRAG has issued a series of educational videos dedicated to the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs). There are 20 videos released in this series, which include short “glimpse” videos providing an overview of the standards as well as longer “Educational Sessions” which cover the draft standards in more detail. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has concluded its project on improving its approach to developing and drafting disclosure requirements.  The improved approach is summarised in guidance and a project summary and feedback statement. On 8 March, the comment period for the Second Comprehensive Review of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard closed. The Financial Reporting Technical Committee of the Institute issued a response to this consultation. Sustainability On 17 February, more than 1,000 people from 45 countries convened in Montreal and online to discuss what’s next for investor-focused sustainability disclosure. Businesses, investors, policymakers, regulators and other stakeholders engaged in meaningful discussion about the forthcoming standards from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).  Seven Key Takeaways from this event have now been published online. The Institute has recently responded to the consultation issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the transposition of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. The response can be found here. Anti-Money laundering/Sanctions 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. The Minister for Justice has invited expressions of interest for consideration for appointment as an ordinary member, with experience as a representative of civil society, of the Advisory Council against Economic Crime and Corruption. You can read more details in the press release here and the short booklet here. Closing Date: 5pm on Tuesday 4 April 2023. Readers may recall the UK Government’s introduction of an economic crime levy (ECL) to fund the fight against economic crime. The Financial Conduct Authority has recently announced that it will collect Treasury’s economic crime levy (Anti-Money Laundering) from July 2023 . Other Areas of Interest The Charities Regulator has issued its latest e newsletter recently. In it there are links to several news items including news of a new look Charity Services webpage and a Charities Regulator stakeholder forum. Anyone wishing to nominate a charity trustee to the forum can do so by 5pm on Thursday, 23rd March 2023. The newsletter also has a link contains new guidance on public benefit. The Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill, following completion of Report Stage in Seanad Éireann on 22 February 2023, was signed into law by the President this week. The legislation will introduce, amongst other matters, a Senior Executive Accountability Regime (SEAR) which will place obligations on certain customer-facing firms and senior individuals within them to set out clearly where responsibility and decision-making lies. It is expected that  the Central Bank will shortly issue regulations and guidance on the areas which will be enforced immediately. It will also expected that they will launch a consultation process around the implementation of the SEAR to provide those who will be subject to the new rules an opportunity to express views about how it should be implemented. The latest European Commission Finance newsletter can be accessed here. It includes among the topics and news an interview with David O Sullivan, newly appointed international special envoy for the implementation of EU sanctions, Commissioner McGuinness’s opening remarks at the European Parliament plenary debate on the Green Deal Industrial Plan and a study on feasibility, minimum standards and transparency requirements of an EU ESG Benchmark label. ESMA (European Securities & Markets Authority) is seeking stakeholder views on proposed changes to the RTS on authorisation and registration. The objective is to safeguard equal treatment between EU and non-EU Benchmarks administrators by aligning the information requested in applications from EU administrators with the information requested in recognition applications from non-EU administrators.  ESMA will consider all comments received by 9 March 2023. The Central Bank of Ireland has recently issued its quarterly bulletin, the first one of 2023. Please also click here for the press release titled “inflation easing but expected to remain elevated” . The Irish Pensions Authority reported recently that the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched a public consultation on its draft technical advice to the European Commission on the upcoming review of the IORP II Directive. You can read more about the consultation including the paper here. Stakeholders are invited to respond to EIOPA by 25 May 2023. Responses will be published on the EIOPA website unless marked confidential. Ibec Global has recently issued its fourth edition of Divergence Watch. This is a quarterly publication which looks at the shifting relationship between the EU and the UK and in this issue the focus is on EU and UK divergence and cooperation in the area of energy. It looks at EU and UK policy developments regarding renewable energy and electricity market design. Please click here to access the webpage for further information and to access the publication. 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 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.  

Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.  In developments this week, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a myth buster to dispel common misconceptions about Corporate Governance and Stewardship; the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK has published its first SARs (Suspicious Activity Reports) Booklet of 2023 which showcases further positive feedback from law enforcement agencies and includes a number of case studies highlighting excellent outcomes derived from SARs. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. FRS 102 Periodic Review- Meet the FRC Please join us in Chartered Accountants House on 29 March for some free, in-person events to mark the Periodic Review of FRS 102, FRS 105 and other UK and Irish accounting standards. In December 2022, the FRC Published FRED 82, which contains the proposed amendments to UK and Irish accounting standards. These include some significant changes in the areas of Revenue and Leasing. These events will help attendees understand the proposed changes, with presentations from the FRC and include a summary presentation and roundtable sessions. Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group’s (EFRAG) draft comment letter in response to the IASB’s Exposure Draft 2023/1 International Tax Reform—Pillar Two Model Rules (Proposed Amendments to IAS 12) remains open for comment until 27 February 2023. Sustainability The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has issued its February 2023 update and podcast. The meeting, amongst other matters, focused on redeliberating the Exposure Drafts IFRS S1 General Sustainability-related Disclosures (draft S1) and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (draft S2) and to decide whether to begin the balloting process for IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. The ISSB discussed the sources of guidance an entity would use to identify sustainability-related risks and opportunities, and related disclosures and tentatively decided that the effective date of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 would be effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024, and that early adoption would be possible. The ISSB will now commence the balloting process and expects to issue the Standards towards the end of the second quarter of 2023. Anti-Money laundering/Sanctions The Temporary Protection Directive (Council Directive 2001/55/EC) was activated for the first time by the E.U Council on 4 March 2022. Under it, the Irish Dept. of Justice began granting temporary protection to persons fleeing the war in Ukraine on 9 March 2022. To date some 75,000 people have been given temporary protection in Ireland and the Dept. recently announced that it was extending the temporary protection for another 12 months to March 2024. You can read more about this extension of temporary protection on the Dept of Justice’s website. The National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK has published its first SARs Reporter Booklet of 2023. The NCA writes that the booklet showcases further positive feedback from law enforcement Agencies and includes a number of case studies highlighting excellent outcomes derived from SARs. You can access the SARs Reporter Booklet here. A revised and updated 'Guidance on Submitting Better Quality SARs' from the UKFIU has been published and is available on the National Crime Agency (NCA) website. It aims to provide all reporters with guidance on how to submit better quality SARs to the NCA and the booklet should be read in conjunction with guidance found on the NCA website https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/. Governance and stewardship The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a mythbuster to dispel common misconceptions about Corporate Governance and Stewardship. The document addresses several frequently asked questions, such as:  What is corporate governance? What do we mean by stewardship? Does the Corporate Governance code give the FRC powers to enforce against Directors? Protected Disclosures amendment legislation Readers may recall that the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 was signed into law in July 2022 and commenced on 1 January 2023.The  Dept of Public Expenditure (DPER ) has a useful webpage with information on the legislation. The DPER protected disclosures webpage has recently been updated by the addition of a further booklet (to the two already there) on “Protected Disclosures Act Key messages for workers”. Other Areas of Interest Readers may be interested in the “Dear CEO letter “issued recently by the Irish Central Bank (CBI). It sets out some detail of CBI’s regulatory and supervisory priorities for 2023 including authorisation processes, Individual Accountability Framework and supervising firms’ compliance with Anti Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism obligations and administering and enforcing financial sanctions. 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, following public consultation, IAASA has issued a revised version of ISA (Ireland) 600 Special Considerations – Audits of Group Financial Statements (Including the Work of Component Auditors) and conforming amendments; the Financial Reporting Council has announced an increase in the number of signatories to the UK Stewardship Code following the publication of its updated list. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has released a podcast on its recent discussion paper Accounting for variable consideration – from a purchaser’s perspective. EFRAG has also released a summary report on its recent conference entitled “Where is Corporate Reporting heading?” Auditing IAASA issues a revised version of ISA (Ireland) 600 Following public consultation, IAASA has issued a revised version of ISA (Ireland) 600 Special Considerations – Audits of Group Financial Statements (Including the Work of Component Auditors) and conforming amendments. https://iaasa.ie/iaasa-issues-a-revised-version-of-isa-ireland-600/ Sustainability The Financial Conduct Authority in the UK has recently published a discussion paper on finance for positive sustainable change: governance, incentives and competence in regulated firms. The paper does not make any concrete proposals in terms of new regulatory rules, but it seeks views on how firms should develop their arrangements for governance, incentives and competence in sustainability. The FCA has requested responses to the paper by 10 May 2023. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is holding a series of free events for businesses which will highlight the opportunities and challenges presented by digital transformation and decarbonisation. The first event will be hosted in the North-West on Friday 3rd March and is open for businesses based in Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo. You can read more and register here . Small businesses and entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to sample hundreds of events helping them to start or grow their business as part of this year’s Local Enterprise Week which takes place from March 6th to 10th. Click here to read more about it and here for more details of the events  including spotlight events for example one on Green, Sustainability & Competitiveness on Thursday 9th March from 2.30pm to 3.30pm. Insolvency The Institute recently hosted a webinar on Options for directors in financial difficulty. It outlined directors’ duties and obligations when a business is in financial difficulty, and possible consequences for directors for not adhering to those duties and obligations. There was also discussion on the recent insolvency related changes to Companies Act 2014 on the expansion of directors’ duties and a Q&A session. The recording can be accessed here. Sanctions/cybercrime The UK government recently sanctioned seven people said to be part of a Russia-based cybercrime gang under the UK’s thematic cyber sanctions regime pursuant to The Cyber (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. In conjunction OFSI also published Guidance on Ransomware and Financial Sanctions and you can read the UK Government press release here . The European Union this week announced that it is considering its 10th package of sanctions against Russia. Click here to read the press release on the proposed 10th package. They propose to further restrict the export of dual use and advanced tech goods and to add third country entities to the Russia dual use sanctions. They will also look at setting up an overview of all frozen assets of the Russian central bank held in the EU and will look to tackle circumvention of sanctions. We will bring further news of the sanctions when available. The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and CERT-EU, which is the Computer Emergency Response Team of all the EU institutions, bodies and agencies (EUIBAs), have issued a joint publication to alert on sustained activity by particular threat actors which they say pose a significant and ongoing threat to the European Union. Click here to go to the ENISA webpage where you can access a copy of the publication and the recommendations in it. Other Areas of Interest The FRC has announced an increase in the number of signatories to the UK Stewardship Code following the publication of its updated list. The list now includes successful applicants who submitted their reports at the end of October 2022. The regulator received 105 applications, of which 88 were successful, taking the total number of signatories to 254, up from 235 in September last year. This includes 179 asset managers, 58 asset owners and 17 service providers. The additional signatories bring the total assets under management of the list to £46.4tn, up from £40.7tn. The European Central Bank recently issued its ECB February 2023 Supervision newsletter where there a number of topics readers may find of interest including a piece from the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland on whether banks are overregulated, an article on crypto-assets: a new standard for banks and an article on banks’ digital transformation. Section 225 of the Companies Act 2014 introduced a requirement for a directors’ compliance statement (DCS) into Irish law. Now that the DCS has been operational for several years, the Company Law Review Group (CLRG) is reviewing it to determine its effectiveness in achieving compliance and its usability and, if appropriate, to make recommendations as to how these might be enhanced in the interest of good corporate governance. Readers may know that the CLRG is a statutory advisory expert body charged with advising the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the review and development of company law in Ireland. The CLRG has issued two surveys, a directors’ survey and a practitioners’ survey, to get feedback from directors of affected companies and practitioners (auditors, financial directors, solicitors, and so on) who are involved in the preparation of the annual DCS. Please see here for more information from DETE on the review . Please access the directors’ survey here. Please access the practitioners’ survey here. The closing date is 28 February 2023. DETE's February 2023 Enterprise newsletter is now available. It contains information on the survey referred to in the preceding paragraph and a number of consultations which DETE is currently involved in including the consultation on which we brought you details in the last few weeks seeking the views of interested parties on the member state options in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. As a reminder of the details you can click here for a recent Institute news item with some more information on the Directive. The Irish Minister for Justice this week obtained approval from Government to close the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) to further applications from close of business on 15 February 2023. He said that all programmes are kept under review and the Government has also taken on board a number of reports and findings from international bodies such as the EU Commission, Council of Europe and OECD on similar investment programmes. You can read more in the press release from the Dept of Justice website. 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, Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently awarded €10.7m to research projects tackling the climate crisis. 42 projects have now been selected including projects on greenhouse gas emissions, ozone levels, radon, human biomonitoring and earth observation; HM Treasury in the UK has recently issued a consultation and call for evidence on future financial services regulatory regime for crypto assets. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued its January 2023 update which summarises its activities during the month, including publications, public technical discussions held and decisions taken during the month. The FRC plan on holding a Roundtable on FRED 82 - Draft amendments to FRS 102 during March. These sessions will cover both subject-specific topics (such as Revenue and Leasing) and general requirements. Members who wish to attend can register for these on the FRC website. Auditing The Technology Consultation Group of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) today released non-authoritative support material to help address certain frequently asked questions about investigating exceptions and the concept of performance materiality when performing audit procedures using automated tools & techniques (ATT). While not unique to ATT, questions on these topics have become more prevalent with the increasing use of ATT, which enable analyzing data sets with large volumes of information. Other technology-related publications are available on the IAASB’s Technology web page Sustainability Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently awarded €10.7m to research projects tackling the climate crisis. 42 projects have now been selected including projects on greenhouse gas emissions, ozone levels, radon, human biomonitoring and earth observation. You can read more about the projects and funding here. Insolvency On 7 December 2022, the European Commission published its draft Proposal for a Directive on harmonising certain aspects of national insolvency laws. The proposal would affect Irish company insolvency law, personal insolvency law and bankruptcy law as currently drafted. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, together with the Department of Justice and the Department of Finance, has issued a call for views from stakeholders on the proposal for a directive. The deadline for submission is 24 February 2023. Anti-money laundering The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) recently published its first modern slavery statement which it says sets out its commitments to reduce the risk of modern slavery in the supply chain and  builds on its strategic priority to tackle Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. The NCA will be reporting on its commitments on an annual basis and will use this opportunity to work with partners to continue to raise awareness, make it easier to report incidences of modern slavery and support victims. Other Areas of Interest Some readers might be interested in the call by the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment for Expressions of Interest for Members of the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council. Please see here on the DETE website and click here to go to the stateboard's website for more information. They are looking for applicants with research expertise relevant to competitiveness and productivity issues in an international context, or business sector expertise with recent experience of engagement with the policy process. In particular, business sector expertise in the manufacturing sector would be welcome. The closing date for receipt of applications is 3:00pm on 24 February 2023. HM Treasury in the UK has recently issued a consultation and call for evidence on Future financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets. Click here to access the document. Topics covered include cryptoassets and the current regulatory landscape, the definition of cryptoassets and legislative approach and an overview of the current regulatory landscape for cryptoassets. Please click here for the European Commission Banking and Finance Newsletter which contains items on topics such as EU Finance news in brief, the European capital markets union and Sustainable finance: guidance on reporting under the EU Taxonomy. 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 European Central Bank recently issued its staff opinion on the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards; the Institute is hosting a webinar on Options for directors in financial difficulty on Thursday, 9 February 2023. We will outline directors’ duties and obligations when a business is in financial difficulty, and possible consequences for directors for not adhering to those duties and obligations. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has published its Draft Comment Letter in response to the IASB's Exposure Draft 2023/1 International Tax Reform - Pillar Two Model Rules (Proposed Amendments to IAS 12). Comments are requested by EFRAG by 27 February 2023. The UK Endorsement Board is holding a roundtable in relation to the above Exposure Draft. This will take place on 13 January. EFRAG has completed its due process regarding Lease liability in a Sale and Leaseback (Amendments to IFRS 16) and has submitted its Endorsement Advice Letter to the European Commission. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has published its January 2023 update and updated work plan. The IASB has issued an “In Brief” article to explain two decisions that have been made in the Business Combinations – Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment project. The IFRS Foundation has issued its January 2023 update and the IASB has also issued its January 2023 podcast. Auditing The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has updated its Statement of Intent on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting. This was first published in 2021, and identified underlying issues with the production, audit and assurance, distribution, consumption, supervision and regulation of ESG information. Since then, it has undertaken a significant number of initiatives both in the UK and internationally, to assist and support its wide range of stakeholders and drive best practice in high-quality and comparable ESG reporting and disclosure. Sustainability The Irish Dept of Enterprise Trade and Employment has issued a public consultation seeking the views of interested parties on the member state options in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“Directive”). More details can be found here and you can access the consultation here. Even though it is not consulting on direct effect/mandatory provisions, comments and questions on all aspects of the Directive are invited to facilitate the Dept’s work in transposition. The consultation is open until 5 pm Thu 9 March 2023. Click here for a recent Institute news item with some more information on the Directive. Readers may also be interested in accessing the speakers’ PowerPoint slides from a recent DETE webinar on the Directive to get further information on the various presentations made. There was a presentation from DETE, PWC and EFRAG on the Directive (the CSRD Directive) and a presentation by DETE on a Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. The European Central Bank recently issued its staff opinion on the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards.   You can read more on it by following the above link. Insolvency The Institute is hosting a webinar on Options for directors in financial difficulty on Thursday, 9 February 2023. We will outline directors’ duties and obligations when a business is in financial difficulty, and possible consequences for directors for not adhering to those duties and obligations. There will be discussion on the recent insolvency related changes to Companies Act 2014 on the expansion of directors’ duties. Anti-money laundering FATF recently issued its Annual Report 2021-2022. It sets out FATF achievements for the year including a strengthened standard on beneficial ownership: to prevent criminals from laundering dirty money through shell companies and other legal persons. A report and webinar on migrant smuggling that set out the most common methods used to transfer and launder the proceeds of migrant smuggling and new and updated guidance in a report that aims to help real estate sector professionals. You can read more and download  the FATF Annual Report 2021-2022 here . The NCA in the UK has recently issued some new publications on SARs including guides on the new SAR Portal Overview, the new SAR Portal FAQs and new SAR Portal- how to register. Please click here to go to the NCA Money laundering and illicit finance webpage where you will find links to the guides (on the right of the page). Other Areas of Interest The Irish Charities Regulator recently published new guidance entitled guidance for charities on crisis management,  guidance for small charities  and guidance document – Credit Card Controls for Charities. It also has a range of other guidance on its website which readers may find useful. The Corporate Enforcement Authority’s Director of Governance & Support Operations, Sharon Sterritt, will be speaking on the topic of 'The Role of the Forensic Accountant in Criminal Investigations' at the La Touche Training Regulatory Investigations conference on 9-10 March 2023. Further details are available at here. The Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission recently participated in EU-wide sweep of websites to identify “dark patterns” which are practices aimed at pushing consumers into making choices online that may not be in their best interest. Examples are fake countdown timers; web interfaces designed to lead consumers to purchases, subscriptions or other choices; and hidden information. Sweeps included websites of mainly EU-based traders selling clothing; electronic goods and household equipment; cosmetics and personal care goods and food. The CCPC inspected the Irish websites of 16 well-known high street retailers. It said that in an Irish context, from the select number of Irish traders reviewed, no clear infringements were identified. You can read more on the CCPC website here and the European Commission press corner here. Did you know that businesses have rights when engaging with online platforms? EU Regulation 2019/1150 (the ‘P2B Regulation’) aims to provide a fair, transparent and predictable business environment for businesses who use online platforms to offer their goods or services to consumers. You can read more about the P2B Regulation here. The CCPC recently engaged with businesses who use online platforms to sell their products and services to consumers. It found that many businesses have experienced difficulties. The most common issues were a difficulty lodging a complaint with the platform, and difficulty resolving a complaint through the platform’s complaint-handling system. You can read more about the engagement process and results 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, as part of its ongoing engagement activities in relation to the periodic review of FRS 102 and other FRSs, the Financial Reporting Council hosted a webinar on 19 January which gave an overview of the proposals and provided further context in relation to the decisions made; the Chairperson of the European Banking Authority recently gave a speech on Financing transition to sustainability? What is the role of banking regulation? He said that the financial sector has an important role to play, both in terms of financing the transition to sustainability and for managing financial risks stemming from ESG factors. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting IAASA has published a compendium of financial reporting decisions. These decisions relate to accounting treatments applied by three companies in their 2021 annual financial reports. This compendium, for the first time, includes decisions covering accounting for climate change and sustainability initiatives. As part of its ongoing engagement activities in relation to the periodic review of FRS 102 and other FRSs, the FRC hosted a webinar on 19 January which gave an overview of the proposals and provided further context in relation to the decisions made. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) are hosting a webinar on 31 January entitled “ESG – what we’ve achieved so far and what’s next” The IASB have released a webcast which addresses the proposals on financial instruments contained in the recent Exposure Draft on the Third Edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard. In its Q4 2022 podcast the IFRS Interpretations Committee discussed a recent submission in relation to IFRS 16 relating to whether a contract including a substitution right contains a lease. The tentative agenda decision in relation to this is open for comment until 6 February 2023. In its sixth episode of “The Fast Future with IFAC” podcast series, some issues relevant to small and medium practitioners are discussed, including cybersecurity, cloud computing, client relationship-building, attracting and retaining talent and firm innovation. Auditing The IAASB has opened its public consultation for a group audit-specific section of the proposed auditing standard for less complex entities. This is open for public comment until 2 May. Sustainability The Chairperson of the European Banking Authority recently gave a speech on Financing transition to sustainability? What is the role of banking regulation? He said that the financial sector has an important role to play, both in terms of financing the transition to sustainability and for managing financial risks stemming from ESG factors. There was some discussion on the EBA roadmap which was adopted in December 2022 and that EBA are going to continue working to embed ESG considerations into their risk analysis and stress testing. Professional Accountancy Education Europe (PAEE), which is a collaboration between European accountancy bodies striving to provide a high-quality education framework at international level have issued some Q&As which explain why it is vital to further develop sustainability awareness among accountancy and auditing professionals. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) have issued their January 2023 update and podcast. This discusses recent developments including the rollout and adoption of Sustainability Standards S1 and S2. Insolvency The Institute is hosting a webinar on Options for directors’ in financial difficulty on Thursday, 9 February 2023. We will outline directors’ duties and obligations when a business is in financial difficulty, and possible consequences for directors for not adhering to those duties and obligations. There will be discussion on the recent insolvency related changes to Companies Act 2014 on the expansion of directors’ duties. Anti-money laundering The Irish Minister for Justice, with the consent of the Minister for Finance recently issued Guidelines under section 37(12) of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (as amended) (Act) giving a bit more detail of  those functions in the State that may be considered to be prominent public functions for the purposes of the Act. This will assist firms to identify domestic Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) when conducting their AML risk assessment. The UKFIU recently published the 2022 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Annual Report and annexes which features statistics covering the years 2020-21 and 2021-22.SARs are submitted to the NCA by individuals working in regulated sectors such as banking, legal and financial services, where they suspect that transactions are being used to launder money or conceal criminal activity. Click here for a news item on the report. Other Areas of Interest The Irish Central Bank recently issued a Dear CEO letter concerning its supervisory findings and expectations for payment and electronic money (E-Money) firms. The purpose of the letter is to reaffirm supervisory expectations of CBI with the CBI stating that the supervision of all financial services sectors is risk-based. The letter also sets out a requirement that all payment and e-money firms who are required to safeguard users’ funds obtain a specific audit of their compliance with the safeguarding requirements under EU regulations and the letter sets out what CBI expects the audit opinion to contain. Read the full letter at the link above . Also, in CBI news the Governor recently issued a letter setting out his financial regulation priorities 2023.Among other items it includes continuing progress on actions on the systemic risks generated by non -banks and ensuring that the EU’s Anti Money Laundering Action Plan including the establishment of a single supervisory authority results in  a consistent and robust EU wide framework. The DETE webinar on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)was held on 26 January 2023.The purpose of the webinar was to introduce CSRD and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards arising out of it, to Irish businesses so that they can begin their preparations. DETE reported that next week will see the launch of a public consultation on member state options contained within the CSRD. Further news on the webinar can be found 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 IDA in Ireland has issued its monthly e-zine which includes a report of ‘green talent’ on the rise and seven offshore renewables projects given a boost by the Irish Government; the Financial Reporting Council held a webinar on 19 January setting out the proposals contained in FRED 82 Draft amendments to FRS 102 The Financial reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland and other FRSs – Periodic Review. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) are planning to hold a series of webinars on corporate reporting. The series, which commences on 24 January, will offer a deep dive into the ISSB proposed standards and will consist of three parts as follows. Part 1: Better information for better decisions—Introduction to investor-focused sustainability disclosure Part 2: Any size or stage—Getting started on climate disclosure Part 3: Connectivity and controls—the path to investor-grade disclosure The FRC held a webinar on 19 January setting out the proposals contained in FRED 82 Draft amendments to FRS 102 The Financial reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland and other FRSs – Periodic Review. Auditing A new publication from Accountancy Europe builds on the factsheet published last year and offers constructive recommendations based on the discussions with their members’ audit experts as well as external stakeholders involved in developing AQI initiatives in their respective jurisdictions. Sustainability The IDA in Ireland has issued its monthly e-zine which you can click here to read. It includes a report of ‘green talent’ on the rise and seven offshore renewables projects given a boost by the Irish Government. Insolvency In December 2022, the Bankruptcy Master for Northern Ireland advised that the restriction on filing new creditors' winding up petitions is likely to be lifted in the new term. The court has advised that further information will be issued in advance of the new guidance. The court noted that lifting the restrictions may bring about some logistical challenges which is further hampered by the absence of the new proposed Insolvency (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2022 and has encouraged a collaborative approach between all practitioners and the court. The Institute is hosting a webinar on Options for directors’ in financial difficulty on Thursday, 9 February 2023. We will outline directors’ duties and obligations when a business is in financial difficulty, and possible consequences for directors for not adhering to those duties and obligations. There will be discussion on the recent insolvency related changes to Companies Act 2014 on the expansion of directors’ duties. Other Areas of Interest The Irish Dept of Enterprise Trade and Employment (DETE) recently published its January 2023 Enterprise newsletter. It includes information on topics such as the webinar DETE are hosting on Thursday 26 January 2022 between 10am - 12pm to explain the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and accompanying standards in more detail. It also includes information on tariff suspension/quota schemes with the deadline for applications at 5.30pm on Tuesday, 31 January 2023. It also gives information on changes to the employment permit system to address skills shortages in Ireland’s Dairy, Transport and Home Care sectors. In relation to the DETE webinar readers are reminded to click here for the contact details in relation to registration for the webinar and to read the news item. DETE has advertised that there will be presentations from the officials heading up the transposition of the directive within the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the EU Commission on the day of the webinar. The Irish government has recently published its legislation programme for Spring 2023. Click here for the press release and to access the spring legislative programme. Some particular items of interest are as follows: In the programme pre legislative scrutiny has taken place on the Charities (Amendment) Bill and it is now on the priority publication list. There is a heads in preparation of an Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill 2023 stated to make provision for proposed amendments to the equality legislation arising from the review of the Equality Acts. Readers may recall previous government agenda where a limited partnership Bill was proposed to modernise the Limited Partnership Act 1907.In the spring 2023 programme there is a heads in preparation of a Miscellaneous Provisions (Transparency and Registration of Limited Partnerships and Business Names) Bill 2023. This is stated to be to reform the Limited Partnerships Act 1907 and the Registration of Business Names Act 1963, strengthening Ireland’s regulatory framework and responding to concerns raised in relation to the transparency of limited partnerships. The Co-operative Societies bill is on the agenda as heads in preparation. Readers may recall that earlier this year, the Institute, as part of CCAB-I, responded to a public consultation from the Dept of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on new legislation for the co-operative sector and in November 2022 we brought you a news item that the Government had approved the drafting of what is billed as ground-breaking legislation for the sector. Here is the link to page giving details of the General Scheme of the Co-operative Societies Bill 2022. On this quarter’s legislative agenda work is still underway on the Companies (Administrative, Governance & Insolvency Amendment) Bill and it is stated to give effect to outstanding Programme for Government commitments on rights of workers as creditors; trading entities splitting operations; and transactional avoidance. One last bill which might be of interest is the Licencing of Construction Activity Bill which is stated to be to provide for the establishment of a statutory licensing system for construction and related activities. The Dept of Justice has recently published its 2021 Annual Report. They report that publication of  a Justice Climate Policy Statement setting out how the justice sector will reach its ambitious climate and energy efficiency targets, including by the adoption of green public procurement has been carried over to Justice Plan 2022. On the anti-money laundering front it is reported for example that 2021 inspections comprised 106 inspections of High Value Goods Dealers; 138 inspections of Trust or Company Service Providers; 23 inspections of notaries; 8 inspections of gambling providers and 5 inspections of Tax Advisors/ External Accountants. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.

In developments this week, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has issued a public consultation for its 2024-2027 proposed strategy and work plan; the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment has announced that it will hold a webinar on 26 January 2023 (10am-12pm) to inform stakeholders of the new requirements and standards in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and accompanying standards. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting The FRC are holding a webinar on 19 January on its recently released Exposure Draft “FRED 82”, which sets out the FRC’s Draft amendments to FRS 102 proposed as part of the periodic review of the standard. In its recently released Exposure Draft, the IASB has proposed a temporary exception in relation to accounting for deferred tax arising from the implementation of the OECD Pillar Two model rules. Comments are requested by the IASB by 10 March 2023. The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has published a Draft Endorsement Criteria Assessment (DECA) on Lease Liability in a Sale and Leaseback —Amendments to IFRS 16 (the Amendments) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in September 2022. These amendments add requirements explaining how a seller-lessee subsequently accounts for sale and leaseback transactions with variable lease payments that do not depend on an index or rate. Auditing The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has issued a public consultation for its 2024-2027 proposed strategy and work plan. The strategy seeks to accelerate the actions originally laid out in the 2020-2023 strategy with a focus on standard setting that supports the performance of high-quality audit and assurance engagements. Sustainability In its latest podcast, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) discuss recent decisions and discussions from the ISSB meeting in December. The Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment (DETE) has announced that it will hold a webinar on 26 January 2023 (10am-12pm) to inform stakeholders of the new requirements and standards in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and accompanying standards. Please click here to read the news item and for the contact details in relation to registration. DETE also says that a public consultation will be launched seeking views to inform Ireland’s transposition of the discretionary options of the Directive into national law. While acknowledging that it is a US report, in the light of ongoing developments in sustainability, readers might be interested in the Climate Action Report released by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System recently. This report reviews the climate action plans of global systemically important banks (“G-SIBs”) and summarizes the progress they are making toward achieving them. Click here to access the website of Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and here to access the full paper. An abstract from the report states that despite some progress by large global banks to address climate change considerations, much work lies ahead to properly measure and disclose climate-related risks, and to better align financing activities with their net-zero targets. Insolvency The Institute is hosting a webinar on Options for directors’ in financial difficulty on Thursday, 9 February 2023. We will outline directors’ duties and obligations when a business is in financial difficulty, and possible consequences for directors for not adhering to those duties and obligations. There will be discussion on the recent insolvency related changes to Companies Act 2014 on the expansion of directors’ duties. Under the Joint Insolvency Committee’s (JIC’s) strategic work plan, Statements of Insolvency Practice (SIPs) are subject to periodic review in order to ensure they remain relevant to changing legislation and market conditions. Following consultations with the profession and other stakeholders, including the Insolvency Service, HMRC and major creditor representatives, a revised version of SIP 3.1 – Individual Voluntary Arrangements has now been approved by the JIC and the Recognised Professional Bodies for implementation with effect from 1 March 2023.  The revised SIP 3.1 applies in Northern Ireland, England and Wales. Other Areas of Interest The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) recently published its Mergers & Acquisitions Report 2022 which includes statistics on the number of mergers and acquisitions notified and decided in 2022. There was a 16% decrease in notified mergers from 2021 and one proposed acquisition was prohibited. In the case of the proposed banking transaction Bank of Ireland /KBC, the CCPC imposed a commitment on Bank of Ireland of the provision of one billion euro to non-bank lenders to support competitive developments in the mortgage market. In publishing its banking decisions, the CCPC says that it took the opportunity to raise concerns in relation to the overall competitiveness of the banking sector in Ireland and has continued to engage with the Department of Finance and the Central Bank on these matters. Readers can access a copy of the Mergers & Acquisitions report 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 European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is seeking comments on its draft endorsement advice on amendments to IAS 1; IAASA has published its key messages for auditors in the area of related parties, the Irish Government in recent weeks launched its Climate Action Plan 2023; the Irish Corporate Enforcement Authority has this week published an Information Note on the topic of Early Warning Tools and Restructuring Frameworks. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.   Financial Reporting   The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is seeking comments on its draft endorsement advice on amendments to IAS 1. Comments are requested by 1 March 2023. EFRAG has also issued its December 2022 update.   The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has published a Draft Endorsement Criteria Assessment on Lease Liability in a Sale and Leaseback —Amendments to IFRS 16 (the Amendments) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in September 2022. Comments are requested from stakeholders by 5 April 2023.   The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has issued its December 2022 update.   The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has issued its December 2022 IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard Update. This includes FAQs on the proposed amendments to the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard and some new resources to support the ongoing consultation.   The IASB has also released its December 2022 podcast and the IFRS Foundation has released its monthly news summary.   Auditing   IAASA has published its key messages for auditors in the area of related parties, and IAASA’s YouTube channel also now includes a video that shares questions asked by IAASA’s audit inspectors during 2022 in the area of related parties. IAASA’s new video provides information on the revised ISA (Ireland) 315 Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement. ISA 315 is effective for financial periods beginning on or after 15 December 2021. Sustainability The Irish Government in recent weeks launched its Climate Action Plan 2023. This sets out how Ireland will accelerate the action required to respond to the climate crisis, putting climate solutions at the centre of Ireland’s social and economic development. Some details of the plan are contained in the government press release and it is intended that an Annex to the Climate Action Plan, outlining more detail on the Plan’s actions, will be published early in 2023. The European Commission recently published two draft notices containing FAQs relating to the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the Taxonomy Regulation. The first Draft Commission Notice is regarding the interpretation and implementation of certain legal provisions of the EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act establishing technical screening criteria for economic activities that contribute substantially to climate change mitigation or climate change adaptation and do no significant harm to other environmental objective. The second Draft Commission Notice relates to the interpretation and implementation of certain legal provisions of the Disclosures Delegated Act under Article 8 of EU Taxonomy Regulation on the reporting of taxonomy-eligible and taxonomy-aligned economic activities and assets (second Commission Notice).   Insolvency The Irish Corporate Enforcement Authority has this week published an Information Note on the topic of Early Warning Tools and Restructuring Frameworks. The CEA states that the purpose of the document is to provide assistance to company directors in understanding certain aspects of the European Union (Preventive Restructuring) Regulations 2022. Specifically, the Information Note has been prepared with a view to assisting company directors to understand the importance of maintaining adequate accounting records, what is meant by a company being in financial difficulty, being unable to pay its debts and being insolvent respectively, specific aspects of company directors’ duties where a company is in financial difficulty, and the potential consequences of non-compliance with company directors’ duties. You can read the CEA news item on the Information Note here, the Information Note can be accessed here and a feedback statement from the CEA on the public consultation can also be accessed. Readers’ attention is drawn to a recent high court case from late 2022, in the matter of Spencer Dock Development Company Limited (in liquidation). In the case the High court initially refused to approve payment of fees to a company in which the official liquidator had an interest, but which company was a third party. The court discussed the liquidator as a fiduciary and the role of trust of the liquidator. The court also noted that the main creditor in the liquidation was NAMA which the taxpayer funds and the court referred to its obligation to have regard to the interests of the taxpayer. Subsequently the fee was revised and all payable to the liquidators and the court approved this. Anti-Money laundering, Economic Crime, Cyber security The European Banking Authority issued its 9th AML/CFT Newsletter in recent weeks. It contains information which might be of interest. For example, on EuReCA, the European Reporting system for AML/CFT material weaknesses launched in January of last year. Also, information on the publication of final Remote Customer Onboarding Guidelines in November 2022, a consultation on Guidelines to tackle de-risking and the publication of its 2022 Risk Assessment Report. Read the full newsletter at the above link. The National Crime Authority in the UK has in recent weeks issued its December edition of SARs in Action. The publication contains interesting information including case studies on SARs and a listing of red flag indicators for the crime of sexual exploitation. In recent weeks HM Treasury in the UK published its Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: Supervision Report 2020-22. The report covers a number of matters which may be of interest including a listing at section 3.53 of the most common AML breaches identified by the accountancy and legal Professional Body supervisors during the reporting periods. These include inadequate documented policies and procedures and inadequate resource allocated to AML compliance. Sanctions Readers’ attention is drawn to some news items which may be of interest on sanctions since our last publication of round up in mid-December 2022. The European Union issued its ninth package of sanctions against Russia on 16 December 2022. It includes the imposition of export controls and restrictions, restrictions in the banking sector, restrictions in the broadcasting sector, restrictions in consulting services, energy and mining sectors, restrictions on EU nationals holding posts on governing bodies of Russian state owned or controlled legal persons entities or bodies located in Russia. It also added to the individuals and entities the assets of which are frozen. Our sanctions webpage has been updated with some links and information on the ninth package of sanctions. In our last round up we reported on the Central Bank’s update of  its sanctions webpage with an infographic and financial sanctions FAQs. CBI has now helpfully provided a direct link to the European Union's guidance on guidance on Best Practices referred to in one of the sanctions FAQs. On December 20th we reported on the UK auditing ban which was announced in September 2022 and brought into legislative force on December 16, 2022. We also updated our news item from July 2022 which gave details of the UK ban on providing accounting services to Russia to take account of the audit ban which is now in place. Other Areas of Interest Readers are reminded of the coming into force of the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2002 from 1 Jan 2023. During 2022 Round up brought readers several news items on the passing of the Act which was signed into law in 2022 and the announcement of commencement of the Act from 1 Jan 2023. By way of reminder the new legislation will substantially amend the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, expanding the categories of protected person to include protections for volunteers, shareholders, board members and job applicants for the first time. It also expands the wrongs in respect of which a protected disclosure can be made and imposes requirements on organisations to put internal whistleblowing procedures in place. It also provides for a new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner. Access to the Central Bank of Ireland’s (CBI) Beneficial Ownership Register for Certain Finance Vehicles by members of the public has been suspended following a recent judgment by the European Court of Justice in the Luxembourg business registers case. The CBI has updated its guidance and this third version relates to Chapters 3 and 4 regarding access to the register by members of the public. The Charity Commission (England and Wales) has published an updated set of questions as it launches its new Annual Return in response to charity sector and public feedback. The Irish Pensions Authority has in recent weeks published information on the annual compliance statement (ACS) for 2022 that is provided for under the Pensions Act, 1990 as amended .The 2022 ACS must be prepared no later than 31 January 2023. The Authority will carry out sample checks and audits of trustee compliance with the obligation. The annual compliance statement form to be used can be found on the Authority’s webpage at the above link. On 16 December 2022 the Minister for Enterprise Trade & Employment transposed the EU Directive 2019/1152 on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions by the European Union (Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions) Regulations 2022. Click here for the news item from DETE on the introduction of the regulations which for example introduce a limit to the length of probationary periods at the beginning of a job and anti-abuse legislation for zero-hour contract work. Readers are reminded of the round up article in October 2021 where we reported on the Directive including a DETE public consultation on the Directive. 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 Central Bank of Ireland has recently updated its sanctions webpage with an infographic and financial sanctions FAQs about which you can read more including a question on whether sanctions only apply to those on the sanctions lists; the European Banking Authority (EBA) recently published its roadmap on sustainable finance which outlines its workplan on sustainable finance and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) risks. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing The Institute has responded to the consultation on ISA(Ireland) 600 Group audits. The FRC has launched its Audit & Assurance Sandbox, a collaborative space for approaching issues facing the audit and assurance industry, to support high quality audit and assurance work. The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has published a new fact sheet on the interactions between International Standard on Audit (ISA) 220 (Revised), which addresses quality management at the engagement level, and ISA 600 on group audits. The fact sheet highlights aspects of a group audit that may be affected by ISA 220 (Revised) and International Standard on Quality Management 1 addressing quality management at the firm level. IFAC have released an implementation tool for auditors on risk of material misstatement.  Financial Reporting The FRC has issued Draft amendments to FRS 102 The Financial reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland and other FRSs – Periodic Review. FRED 82 proposes a number of changes resulting from the second periodic review of FRS 102 and other Financial Reporting Standards. The proposals include: a new model of revenue recognition in FRS 102 and FRS 105; a new model of lease accounting in FRS 102; and various other incremental improvements and clarifications. The FRED is accompanied by a consultation stage impact assessment. The FRC’s ‘What makes a Good Annual Report and Accounts’ sets out the attributes for a high-quality Annual Report and Accounts (ARA). IAASA has published its revised policy paper Publication of information regarding IAASA’s financial reporting supervision activities. This paper sets out IAASA’s policies on publication as well as the nature and extent of information to be published relating to the outcomes of its financial reporting supervision activities.  The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has released a webcast showing some of the main changes included in the recently released Exposure Draft on the Third edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard. The IASB has also shared a presentation on the same topic from the World Standard Setters Conference, which was held in September. The IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) has released its November 2022 update. In his address to delegates at the 2022 EFRAG Conference entitled “Where is Corporate Reporting Going?”, Andreas Barckow, Chair of the IASB, spoke about the IASB’s relationship with EFRAG over the years as it celebrates its 21st anniversary. The UK Endorsement Board has adopted three narrow-scope amendments on 30 November 2022. These were published by the IASB in 2021 and have an effective date of 1 January 2023. The narrow-scope amendments relate to; Disclosure of Accounting Policies (Amendments to IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements and to IFRS Practice Statement 2 Making Materiality Judgements). Definition of Accounting Estimates (Amendments to IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors). Deferred Tax related to Assets and Liabilities arising from a Single Transaction (Amendments to IAS 12 Income Taxes). The UK Endorsement Board has approved and published its Due Process Handbook. The FRC has issued FRED 81 FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework 2022/23 cycle. This proposes no changes to FRS 101 in the annual review. Comments are requested by the FRC up to 28 February 2023. The FRC Lab has released its last quarterly newsletter for 2022. This issue focuses on the year-end and the annual report season, and highlights some of our work that may assist preparers in meeting the challenges ahead. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) have issued their November 2022 update. Insolvency Readers may know that for various reasons set out in the Companies Act 2014 (section 842), a court may disqualify a director. The Corporate Enforcement Authority is one entity which can initiate the procedure by way of a notice under S850. Also, the Authority can apply (under S820) for a declaration for restriction of a director.  The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, has recently issued new regulations effective from 9 December 2022, the Companies Act 2014 (Disqualification and Restriction Undertakings) Regulations 2022 and please click here for a useful summary from the Corporate Enforcement Authority on the purpose of the new regulations. Sustainability The European Banking Authority (EBA) recently published its roadmap on sustainable finance which outlines its workplan on sustainable finance and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) risks. The EBA says that the roadmap explains its sequenced and comprehensive approach over the next three years to integrate ESG risks considerations in the banking framework and support the EU’s efforts to achieve the transition to a more sustainable economy. Please also click here for further information on the relevant EBA webpage and an interesting infographic on the key objectives of the roadmap. In its Joint Statement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), Accountancy Europe has expressed its overall support for the CSDDD and have called on the EU co-legislators to strengthen certain provisions in the Directive. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) made some announcements following its meeting this week. These include an agreement on how to describe sustainability and its relationship to financial value creation, addressing natural ecosystems as it relates to climate, and the decision to consider the work of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and other existing nature-related standards and disclosures where they relate to the information needs of investors. While initially focused on setting rules on climate-related disclosures such as carbon emissions, the ISSB said that it will create rules relating to natural ecosystems after these are published. Find out more here. Other news Law Reform Commission publishes consultation paper on liability of clubs, societies and other unincorporated associations. Submissions are invited from all interested parties on the Commission's Consultation Paper on Liability of Clubs, Societies and other Unincorporated Associations. The Financial Conduct Authority in the UK has published a document (which is not FCA guidance) containing insights from the 2021 Cyber Coordination groups.(CCGs).   You can read more on the CCG forums on this FCA webpage  and while the matters were discussed at forums in 2021 they may be of interest in highlighting  the cyber risk landscape, as well as emerging cyber risks discussed. The FCA also announced this week that it has established a new advisory committee to the FCA’s Board to work on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues. Click here to read more details and here for the committee’s terms of reference .  The Pensions Authority has published its Engagement and audit findings report for 2022. The purpose of this report is to share observations on the key findings identified during the Authority’s engagement and audit activity in 2022 which included face to face meetings with a number of larger DC and DB schemes. It is expected that all trustee boards and their advisers will consider these findings and evaluate their own practices to establish if any improvements are required. The report is available here. The Pensions Authority also brings news this week of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) conclusion of its fourth European-wide stress test of IORPs (pension schemes). The 2022 exercise assessed the resilience of participating IORPs against a climate change scenario, representing the first climate stress test for IORPs in the European Economic Area. Details of the 2022 report is available here on the EIOPA website. The Irish Central Bank (CBI ) has recently updated its sanctions webpage with an infographic and financial sanctions FAQs about which you can read more here including a question on whether sanctions only apply to those on the sanctions lists? In the answer CBI says that where you identify that a sanctioned individual or entity owns or controls the individual/entity with whom you are transacting, you should fully assess the impact of this ownership or control. When conducting this assessment, you should refer to the EU Commission’s guidance on ownership and control. This guidance on ownership/control can be found in EU Best Practices which was updated in 2022. As previously advised, access to the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership for Companies (RBO) in Ireland was suspended for general access following a recent judgment by the European Court of Justice. The case found that the provision of the directives, whereby information on the beneficial ownership of companies incorporated within the territory of the Member States is accessible in all cases to any member of the general public, was invalid. The RBO has now been updated to allow restricted access to search the register to Designated Persons and Competent Authorities only, with very limited information being available to other parties. Further information and details on how to register as a designated person is available here. The Dept of Enterprise Trade and Employment last week issued its monthly enterprise newsletter. While many of the topics have already been brought to readers  of this bulletin click here to access the newsletter which contains information on topics such as the new entitlement to paid sick leave from 2023 , the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme and Skills for Better Business - a new resource for SMEs. The Institute’s Professional Standards Dept (PSD) has issued its latest regulatory bulletin which you can access here. Readers attention is drawn in particular to the item on the Register of Overseas Entities (ROEs) in the UK. A critical element of the ROE regime is the requirement to verify, independently, elements such as the exercise of control. PSD warns that firms should carefully consider whether they should provide this verification work. Firms are reminded that the work required for verification under the ROE is not the same as the risk-based approach to client due diligence under the Money Laundering Regulations and PSD reminds firms that they should familiarise themselves with the differences. The bulletin also gives a link to an alert on the subject from the Accountancy AML Supervisors’ Group (AASG)  . 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 Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published new firm-level audit quality indicators (AQIs) following clear support from users of audit services for greater insight into many of the indicators that drive audit quality; following a global conference on criminal finances and cryptocurrencies, Europol and the Basel Institute on Governance have issued a booklet with 5 recommendations for crypto assets related crime and money laundering Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing IAASA have updated their website. The statement of auditors’ responsibilities is now at https://iaasa.ie/publications/description-of-the-auditors-responsibilities-for-the-audit-of-the-financial-statements/ while the standards are at https://iaasa.ie/auditing-and-assurance-standards/. ISQM Transition issues A new Technical Alert (TA 05 2022) has been issued which discusses the transition from ISQC1 to ISQM 1 in relation to assurance engagements and reports prepared under international standards. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published new firm-level audit quality indicators (AQIs) following clear support from users of audit services for greater insight into many of the indicators that drive audit quality. The AQIs will provide users of audit services provided by the largest UK audit firms with more information about factors that drive audit quality and help them make an informed choice when selecting an auditor. The 11 AQIs include a range of comparable indicators on perceived culture within an audit firm, audit quality inspection results, staff workloads, and the level of partners’ involvement in audits. Audit committees and others will also be able to assess firms on a consistent basis, with the knowledge that AQIs across the firms will be calculated in the same way.  The FRC has announced new supervision measures to support smaller audit firms seeking to grow their share of the audit market without compromising audit quality. Chartered Accountants Ireland has responded to a consultation by IAASA on International Standard on Auditing (ISA) (Ireland) 600: Special Considerations – Audit of Group Financial Statements (including the Work of Component Auditors). Sustainability The Central Bank Director of Securities and Markets Supervision spoke at a recent event which was primarily on the subject of fund management companies but also touched on the topic of sustainable finance in light of the forthcoming deadline for compliance with the disclosure requirements under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR). She referenced a recent CBI  seminar in this area and the CBI  Information Note on the topic. You can read her remarks in full here. See also the remarks on climate change made by the CBI Director of Credit Institutions Supervision Federation of International Banks in Ireland annual conference. You can read the news item here. The EU Council has adopted its general approach for the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CSDDD”).  This Directive will lay down rules on obligations for large companies regarding actual and potential adverse impacts on human rights and the environment, with respect to their own operations, those of their subsidiaries, and those carried out by their business partners in their chain of activities. It also will lay down obligations for companies to adopt a plan ensuring their business model and strategy are compatible with the Paris Agreement on climate. Lastly, the CSDDD will also specify penalties and civil liability for violating the obligations. The proposal for the CSDDD is available here. Crypto news Crypto continues to be in the news and some readers may find interesting a recent speech by a Member of the Executive Board of the ECB on the bursting crypto bubbles and the destiny of digital finance. He goes through 3 fundamental flaws in crypto finance, being unbacked crypto assets offering no benefits to society, stable coins being exposed to runs and crypto markets being highly leveraged and interconnected. He also discusses the destiny of digital finance and regulating crypto assets. Click here to access the speech. Following a global conference on criminal finances and cryptocurrencies Europol and the Basel Institute on governance have issued a booklet with 5 recommendations for crypto assets related crime and money laundering. It includes a recommendation to break down silos between traditional and crypto saying that the separation between “traditional” and “crypto” organised crime and money laundering is increasingly unhelpful. It also says that it is essential that crypto assets are treated like any other asset for the purposes of AML/CFT supervision and enforcement. Readers can access the booklet here. Other news The Dept. of Enterprise Trade &Employment tweeted on Thursday that in the light of ongoing repercussions of the pandemic on Irish businesses, the Government has approved the further extension of 2 important temporary measures of the Companies Act to 31 Dec '23 📌virtual general meetings will continue 📌Threshold a company is deemed unable to pay its debts remains at €50k. The Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary said the increased threshold of 50k is retained until Dec '23 to assist in the ongoing operation of struggling or recovering businesses and will ensure that fundamentally viable companies will not be wound up for relatively small debts of €10,000. He also said that importantly, work continues to put virtual AGMs and general meetings on a permanent statutory footing. The extension to Dec '23 will allow companies & co-ops to continue to comply with their legal obligations in what is a challenging trading environment. Please click here also for the Dept.'s recent press release on the subject. The Charities Regulator has recently published the latest issue (19) of its bulletin “Charities Regulator News”. It includes details of a survey of the charity sector where it wants to hear from charity trustees, employees and advisers to a charity. It also contains details of its new charity classification standard and some information on the sale authorisation process for charity properties. The Irish government this week launched its White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030 setting out the government’s enterprise priorities in the period to 2030. At the launch the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment spoke about decarbonisation, the Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation spoke about the importance of Ireland as a hub for the digital sector and the Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail spoke about local business community in Ireland playing an increasingly important role in creating jobs. You can read details of the press release here and download the white paper here . Readers who deal with credit unions will be interested to know about the recent publication by the Dept of Finance (DOF) of the Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022. It is the first substantive credit union legislation since 2012 and covers items such as the creation of corporate credit unions, as an additional regulated vehicle through which credit unions could collaborate, improving members’ services by allowing credit unions to refer members to other credit unions and to participate in loans of other credit unions and allowing the Minister for Finance to set a maximum interest rate .You can read the DOF press release here  and access a copy of the draft bill here. The Central Bank has issued a “Dear Chair” letter regarding: “Follow up on thematic review of fund management companies’ governance, management and effectiveness” The letter covers areas where improvement is required including diversity, INED tenure, director time commitments and dedicated CEOs. There is a requirement for firms to bring this letter to the attention of their boards and must ensure that any areas “requiring improvement that directly relate to a firm are given due consideration to ensure robust and appropriate governance arrangements are in place”. The full text of the letter is available here. The UK Fraud Advisory Panel recently launched the findings of its annual survey into fraud within the charity sector in association with BDO. This year’s report offers a snapshot view of how some charities in the UK (particularly large ones) have been affected by fraud over the last year. Readers can see how charities perceive their fraud risk, and importantly, what measures charities can put in place to combat fraud risk during times of great pressure and uncertainty. Click here to access a copy of the report. The Dept. Of the Taoiseach recently launched a public consultation on the Irish National Risk Assessment 2023.The National Risk Assessment provides a systematic overview of national-level risks and since first published in 2014 has drawn attention, at an early stage, to the importance of phenomena such as the UK’s departure from the EU, housing shortages, as well as pandemics. The Dept. has listed Proposed 2023 Strategic Risks and asks stakeholders to assess whether the draft risks identified accurately represent the major risks facing the country, whether there are any significant risks that should be added, or whether any of the proposed risks do not warrant inclusion. The consultation is open until Friday the 17th of February 2023. Please click here for more details on the consultation and for the draft list of strategic risks. 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 European Financial Reporting Advisory Group have issued reports about feedback received from participants during three roundtables held on the International Accounting Standards Board’s tentative decisions to change the Exposure Draft General Presentation and Disclosures; the UK Financial Intelligence Unit, part of the National Crime Agency, has issued its latest Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Reporter Booklet highlighting how law enforcement agencies are utilising SAR intelligence to initiate investigations and inform new ones. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing The FRC has published a policy paper that outlines the regulator’s approach to competition in the audit market.    The paper sets out the need for a market that consistently delivers high quality audit and is resilient. It makes clear the need for the package of measures proposed by the Government in its response to the consultation on Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance.  It also looks at recent developments in the market that suggest that increased competition and choice has more recently tailed off, and that more entities tendering for an auditor are struggling to identify firms willing to bid. The top four audit firms still dominate the market, resulting in limited choices for businesses and ongoing concerns about resilience.  The paper sets out how the FRC is seeking to progress the Government's seven competition policy proposals, and how it proposes to deliver on the operational objective for ARGA to promote effective competition in the market for statutory audit.  The FRC has already started to address issues in the market through measures such as operational separation and its recently published draft standard for audit committees. However, legislation is needed to make a significant difference by providing ARGA the powers to implement all seven proposals.   Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) have issued reports about feedback received from participants during three roundtables held on the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) tentative decisions to change the Exposure Draft General Presentation and Disclosures. The purpose of these roundtables is to assess whether some of the tentative decisions made by the IASB will function as intended and achieve an appropriate balance of cost and benefit. The IASB has voted to retain an impairment-only approach for goodwill accounting. The IASB will next consider whether to publish these proposals in an exposure draft. The IASB has proposed accelerated narrow-scope amendments  to IAS 12 Income Taxes. This proposes a temporary exception from accounting for deferred taxes arising from the OECD Pillar Two model rules for domestic implementation of a 15% global minimum rate of corporate tax as well as targeted disclosure requirements for affected companies. The IASB expects to publish an exposure draft in January 2023 in relation to this. The IASB has issued its November 2022 update which highlights preliminary decisions made at its meeting on 22-24 November. IFAC has issued a new report with insights from its Professional Accountancy Organisation Development and Advisory Group. This discusses how professional accountancy organisations can act today to prepare their current and future members to seize opportunities in emerging trends. The trends discussed include sustainability-related reporting, anti-corruption efforts, sound public financial management and technological change Insolvency Earlier this week, the Institute held a webinar on SCARP - what we know so far on with guest speakers Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars. The webinar discussed the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it. It explored some practical issues including how SCARP is working in practice, dealing with creditors and what your balance sheet may look like before entering the process versus afterwards. A recording of the webinar is available here. The UK Government has recently issued its Statutory Debt Repayment Plan Consultation response which received over 80 responses and raised significant challenges and concerns, relating to both the design of the statutory debt repayment plan (SDRP) and the timing of its implementation. The government has decided not to progress regulation at the moment and will base further decisions on the future of the SDRP on the outcomes of the government’s review of the personal insolvency framework, led by the Insolvency Service. You can read the government’s webpage information here and access the consultation response here. Anti-money laundering The UK FIU, part of the National Crime Agency has issued its latest Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Reporter Booklet highlighting how law enforcement agencies are utilising SAR intelligence to initiate investigations and inform new ones. The booklet contains case studies and gives a sanitised summary of feedback from law enforcement agencies on their use of SARs and includes pertinent information and updates from the UKFIU. You can access a copy of the booklet here . Sustainability The Council of the EU has given its final approval to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This will replace the current Non - Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) when it is adopted. The CSRD will for the first time put financial and sustainability reporting on an equal footing and will require companies in scope to report on sustainability matters such as environmental rights, social rights, governance factors and human rights. These in scope companies will be required to disclose information on the impact on society and the environment connected with their own operations and with their value chain. Read more about it here. Accountancy Europe have also published a very informative FAQ document which gives a good overview of the directive. Crypto news The Deputy Governor of the Bank of England recently gave an interesting speech entitled “Reflections on DeFi [which is decentralised finance, an umbrella term for financial services on public blockchains], digital currencies and regulation”. In it he referenced the recent crypto turbulence. He said unbacked crypto assets are highly volatile, given that they have no intrinsic value. While crypto was born in unregulated space in recent years it has broadened to encompass a range of financial services. The experience of the past year has demonstrated that it is not a stable ecosystem and is very prone to the risks that regulation in the conventional financial sector is designed to avoid. He still advocates nonetheless to continue to bring these activities and entities within regulation to protect consumers and investors, protect financial stability and to foster innovation. Other parts of his speech reference several consultations next year and their work on the issuance by the Bank of England of a digitally native pound sterling. You can read the full speech here. Meanwhile the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of Authorisations of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) spoke recently on matters including crypto and its regulation.  At present, the FCA’s role is largely limited to making sure that crypto firms that want to register in the UK are abiding by anti-money laundering rules. She said that the FCA found that only 5% of Crypto applications received were of high quality and could demonstrate that they understood the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs) and how they would meet these. A further 30% needed material extra work. The FCA engaged with the firms to address concerns about capability, business models and controls. Almost half were subsequently registered. The remaining 65% of applications were very poor, and none of the firms were registered. Many could not explain how the MLRs would be satisfied in the business model proposed – some of them even struggled to explain their business models. You can read her speech including the comments on the Crypto sector here. Other news Readers may be interested in the Irish Government’s recent agreement to extend the mandate of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs). They can now go further in helping local job creation by allowing them to provide direct grants to businesses with more than 10 employees operating in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors. They are also putting in place the structures to enable a seamless transition from LEO to Enterprise Ireland. The press release says, “The strategy also commits Enterprise Ireland to working with the LEOs, to ensure that companies of all sizes are assisted on their development journey, maximising their growth and job creation potential”. You can read all the details here. Readers will know that the Irish Charities Regulator recently held its Charity Trustees Week (14-18 November 2022). There are a number of interesting webinar recordings now available on their website: “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing”, “the Charites Governance Code in Practice “and “an Introduction to Classification”. Click here to go their webpage from where the webinars can be accessed. Access to the Registry of Beneficial Ownership for Companies (RBO) has been suspended following a recent judgment by the European Court of Justice. The RBO is working on providing access for designated persons. Please see more here.  Readers may find useful a new free data protection guide for NGOs which McCann FitzGerald LLP solicitors recently launched in association with Public Interest Law Alliance (PILA). The guide, which was developed by McCann FitzGerald’s data protection team, provides an overview of data protection law and its application to the charity / not-for-profit sector. You can read more about it and follow a link to download a copy of the guide on the PILA webpage here. Readers might be aware of a new Consumer Rights Act which was passed by the Irish government this year. It was commenced recently and you can find out more about it on the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission website see this webpage on “What is the new Consumer Rights Act and what does it mean for me?” and this webpage which lists certain of the changes made by the legislation such as stronger rights to redress for faulty goods and greater accountability for service providers. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website. 

Roundup 25 November 2022 Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup. In developments this week, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has announced that it has delivered the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to the European Commission. These standards were approved at EFRAG’s meeting on 15 November. The International Sustainability Standards Board have issued their November 2022 update and this includes details of items discussed at their meeting in Frankfurt on 15-16 November. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing IAASA has published its Work Programme for the period 2023 - 2025. IAASA has recently redefined its mission as upholding quality corporate reporting and an accountable profession.  The programme builds on IAASA’s work to date towards achieving that mission across its broad spectrum of activities. The strands of the work programme encompass regulation, promotion of high standards and maximising our impact, and the programme builds strategies around each of these strands and also around the enablers that support the strategies. Commenting on the programme, Chief Executive Kevin Prendergast expects that the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is likely to permeate many aspects of the Authority’s work over the lifetime of the programme, but he is confident that the Authority can deliver on these challenges. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has today published a new report setting out examples of good practice to improve auditor scepticism and challenge. Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has announced that it has delivered the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to the European Commission (EC). These standards were approved at EFRAG’s meeting on 15 November and will now be considered for adoption by the EC. The ISSB have issued their November 2022 update. This includes details of items discussed at their meeting in Frankfurt on 15-16 November. This update is also available via podcast. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have issued amendments to the application guidance to FRS 100. These amendments were consulted on earlier this year, via FRED 80. The amendments to the application guidance to FRS 100 provide guidance on how Irish intermediate parents with a UK parent can assess equivalence of consolidated financial statements when applying section 300 of the Companies Act 2014. Similarly, the amendments provide application guidance on equivalence when applying section 401 of the Companies Act 2006 in the UK. The FRC has published its “Review of Stewardship Reporting”. This report, which looks at the quality of stewardship reporting in 2022 and expectations for 2023 found improvements in multiple areas when compared to 2021. Insolvency A reminder that the Institute is hosting a webinar on SCARP – what we know so far now scheduled for Thursday, 1 December 2022 at 10am. Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars along with Laura-Michelle Moore from Chartered Accountants Ireland will discuss the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it. We will explore some practical issues including how SCARP is working in practice, dealing with creditors and what your balance sheet may look like before entering the process versus afterwards. This is a free event and open to all to attend. Sustainability EFRAG has submitted the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to the European Commission in its role as technical adviser to the European Commission. This first set, approved by the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board, supported by the EFRAG SR Technical Expert Group, takes into consideration the input from the public consultation on the draft ESRS Exposure Drafts.  See EFRAG's advice package here which includes the ESRSs, and appendices with a TCFD-EFRAG comparative analysis, a comparison of ESRS to IFRS Sustainability Reporting Standards  and final CSRD requirements for ESRS. Accountancy Europe has published some FAQs showing some of the key changes that the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will bring. The Financial Conduct Authority in the UK has announced the formation of a group to develop a Code of Conduct for Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) data and ratings providers. It refers to the increasing reliance on third party ESG data and ratings services by financial services firms as they integrate ESG into their activities and expand their ESG-focussed products. Click here to go to the FCA website to read the background and next steps. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) in collaboration with EY, has recently published ‘ESG and the Role of Compliance’, which sets out observations on how compliance functions can support their firms in robustly and transparently managing the regulatory risks associated with Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG). The landing page describes how the report covers seven themes around the topic of how compliance functions address ESG, including: strategy, organisation and coverage, compliance risk management framework, systems and capabilities, regulatory environment, data and key performance/key risk indicators. You can click here to access a copy of the report. Anti-money laundering/Sanctions Beneficial ownership registers The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) recently held invalid the provisions of fourth (as amended by the fifth) Anti Money Laundering Directive which require information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities incorporated within the territory of Member States to be accessible in all cases to any member of the general public. You can read here the press release from the ECJ. Readers may be aware that in order to fulfil its obligations under the Directives Ireland in recent years has introduced a number of registers on which ownership details must be recorded. For example, the register of beneficial ownership of corporate entities, trusts register, register of certain financial vehicles and very recently the register of safe deposit boxes bank and payment accounts .These registers do not give public access to all the information .For example the register of beneficial ownership of corporate entities gives access to all information on the register to certain entities such as law enforcement but restricted access to others .It remains to be seen what effect the ECJ ruling will have on registers already put in place by member states . Central Bank (CBI) The Deputy Governor delivered a speech recently, entitled “Breaking new ground: regulating for emerging risks “at the Annual Irish Funds UK Symposium. She spoke about a number of areas of interest in the sector including sustainable finance and digital assets. On ESG CBI is concerned about the risks to regulated firms’ sound functioning, and more broadly to financial stability and to ensure that investors are fully informed and not misled. On digital assets she said there are many black boxes and clearly not all of them are fully understood.  She said this asset class has done real harm to retail investors in the last year and the digital assets ecosystem is not a suitable or safe space for retail investors. You can read the full contents of her speech here. Other news Companies House in the UK has published a useful article on filing accounts and are encouraging users to file early and file online. Accountancy Europe has published a paper which explores the different corporate governance systems based on a survey of 17 European countries. It identifies significant differences in national legislation and practice to lay the groundwork for EU sustainable corporate governance initiatives to be well integrated into the national corporate structures. New rules have been introduced from 1 December 2022 as to how employers will have to share tips, gratuities and service charges amongst employees. It will also be illegal for employers to use these to form part of the basic wages. Please click here to read some useful information from the Workplace Relations Commission website on key features such as what is a “tip or gratuity” ,what is a mandatory service charge and what happens if an employee is not satisfied with the way tips and gratuities are distributed. The National Cyber Security centre in the UK has issued some good advice on how to stay secure online. Please click here for some tips on keeping your e mail secure, two actions to instantly help to protect-a strong and different password and turning on 2-Step Verification. There are also some other tips for other ways to stay secure online and keep your devices safe. 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, a reminder that the Institute is hosting a webinar on SCARP – what we know so far now scheduled for Thursday, 1 December 2022 at 10am. Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars along with Laura-Michelle Moore from Chartered Accountants Ireland will discuss the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it; and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is seeking comments on its draft endorsement advice on amendments to IFRS 16 by 9 January 2023. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a set of principles that it will use to assess whether the public interest is best served by carrying out regulatory, supervisory and enforcement work that is outside of its primary regulatory perimeter as it transitions to the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA). The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has published new guidance to help users understand the impact on the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) due to narrow-scope amendments made to International Accounting Standard (IAS) 1, Presentation of Financial Statements by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). While the IAASB remains framework neutral when developing the ISAs, it considers financial reporting framework developments that may affect the ISAs, such as changes to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Amendments to IAS 1 and the Impact on the ISAs: Disclosure of Material Accounting Policy Information, among other matters, provides users with guidance on how to address the effect of the amendments on a number of illustrative auditor reports throughout the ISAs that assume, as part of the fact pattern, that the financial statements are prepared by the management of the entity in accordance with IFRSs Financial Reporting On Thursday 17 November the FRC Directors of Strategy and Change, Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs and the FRC Lab explored via a webinar recently published set of principles that they use to assess whether the public interest is best served by carrying out regulatory, supervisory and enforcement work that is outside of their primary regulatory focus. The IFRS Foundation has published Proposed Update 1 General Improvements and Common Practice, which amends the IFRS Accounting Taxonomy 2022. The proposed changes aim to improve the quality of tagged data and to make the IFRS Accounting Taxonomy easier to use. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is seeking comments on its draft endorsement advice on amendments to IFRS 16. Comments are requested by 9 January 2023. The International Accounting Standards Board will host a research forum in November 2023. The purpose of this forum is to give researchers the opportunity to give recommendations on the projects researchers look into. The deadline for the submission of research papers is 31 March 2023. Insolvency A reminder that the Institute is hosting a webinar on SCARP – what we know so far now scheduled for Thursday, 1 December 2022 at 10am. Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars along with Laura-Michelle Moore from Chartered Accountants Ireland will discuss the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it. We will explore some practical issues including how SCARP is working in practice, dealing with creditors and what your balance sheet may look like before entering the process versus afterwards. This is a free event and open to all to attend. Sustainability The ISSB have released a podcast which discusses their highlights from COP27. The Irish Central Bank  recently hosted a seminar on the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) for the asset management sector. Comments made by the Deputy Governor are reported on the Central Bank website. She said that they are placing significant emphasis on supporting delivery of the sustainable finance agenda through the implementation of related legislative initiatives. She referred to CBI role at ESMA, where the CBI has helped shape and develop the organisation’s ambitious agenda in the ESG/sustainability area and to the Sustainable Finance Roadmap 2022-2024 published in February by ESMA. She also referred to CBI domestic focus, the dedicated Climate Change Unit and legislative implementation and supervision of the new requirements in this area – including the SFDR, Taxonomy Regulation and the amendments to UCITS / AIFMD for management companies. You can read her comments in full at the link above. Also, in November 2022 the Central Bank issued an information note entitled Sustainable finance and the asset management sector: Disclosures, investment processes & risk management. You can read the Information Note here. Anti-money laundering/Sanctions The UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation HM Treasury has published its annual review for dates April 2021 to August 2022.In the review OFSI director refers to the extra focus  given to the first 6 months of the invasion of Ukraine to provide context and clarity on what he says is OFSI’s critical  work on sanctions which he says  continues to be integral to the UK’s ability to respond to geo-political issues. Please also click here for the associated HM Treasury news story which reports that the new figures released reveal the full effect of UK sanctions on Russia – with over £18 billion frozen and reported to OFSI. In November 2022 HM Treasury in the UK issued an updated Advisory Notice: High Risk Third Countries. The notice refers to Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No.3) Regulations 2022 and states that the statutory instrument will come into force on 7 November 2022 and substitute the list of high-risk third countries specified in Schedule 3ZA of the Money Laundering Regulations with a new list. This list will continue to mirror both the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘Jurisdictions under increased monitoring’ and ‘High-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action’ documents. Click here to read the advisory notice. Central Bank Readers may know about Irish regulations passed in February 2022 which provided for a central database of information to be supplied by credit institutions to the Irish Central Bank on safe-deposit boxes and bank and payment accounts. The regulations were brought into force to give further effect to the EU fourth and fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directives. In recent weeks the Irish Central Bank has launched a webpage Ireland Safe Deposit Box Bank and Payment Accounts Register (ISBAR) which  sets out the information to be contained on the register and says that the register ensures that flows of money can be properly traced to individuals, entities and illicit networks at an early stage .Technical guidance documents, a reporting template and some FAQs are also accessible on the page. Please also click here for a recent Institute news item on the register. Other news The Irish Companies registration office has in  recent weeks publicised on its website the Christmas 2022 deadline for company incorporations, change of name, re-registration and company name reservations which readers should take note of. The CRO says that it cannot guarantee that submissions received after the dates set out below will be processed before the Christmas break. Fé PHRAINN ONLINE SCHEME 14 December 2022 A1 ORDINARY ONLINE SCHEME 8 December 2022 CHANGE OF NAME 8 December 2022 REREGISTRATIONS 8 December 2022 COMPANY NAME RESERVATIONS 16 December 2022 Readers may recall that earlier this year, the Institute, as part of CCAB-I, responded to a public consultation from the Dept of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on new legislation for the co-operative sector. The Government has now approved the drafting of what is billed as ground-breaking legislation for the sector. Please click here for more details contained in the press release and here to go to the page with a link to the General Scheme of the Co-operative Societies Bill 2022. You can also click here to read the submissions made to the Department in February  2022 including the CCAB-I response. This week the Tánaiste announced the introduction of a national living wage. It will be set at 60% of the hourly median wages in line with the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. It will be introduced over a four-year period and will be in place by 2026, at which point it will replace the National Minimum Wage. Readers can find  more details in the Dept. news  here . The latest InterTradeIreland Business Monitor (Q3 2022) more details on which, including a Q3 2022  infographic, you can find here, reveals that while businesses are still expanding, the pace of growth is starting to flatten. The latest data shows that while sales and profits remain relatively buoyant, quarter-on-quarter, a pattern of slowing growth is emerging as rising costs pile on the pressure. Last week the Pensions Authority published information for group pension schemes that are subject to the 1 January 2023 compliance deadline for pension schemes, and it has issued a video reminder of it this week. You can click here for the press release and to access the video. The Companies House in the UK has published its  annual report and accounts for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. The companies register had grown to holding information on around 4.9 million incorporated companies at the end of March 2022. NI Charity regulator opens a consultation: Joint consultation on draft Strategic Plan 2023-2026 and Engagement Strategy The Commission 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 draft strategic plan will set out the Commission’s priorities over the next three years as it responds to the review of charity regulation, the new Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 and delivers charity regulation in Northern Ireland. The engagement strategy will set out how the Commission will become more outward facing and actively engage with stakeholders. This engagement is designed to support charities in complying with charity law while also educating and raising awareness of the Commission’s work amongst the public, including those who support, work for or avail of the services offered by charities. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website. 

Roundup 11 November 2022 Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup. In developments this week, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued its October 2022 edition of the EFRAG Update. This summarises public technical discussions held and decisions taken during the month; the Irish Pensions Authority published information this week for group pension schemes that are subject to the 1 January 2023 compliance deadline where these pension schemes must meet the full requirements of the Pensions Act, 1990, as amended, including the new requirements of the IORP II Directive, from 1 January 2023 onwards. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has launched a consultation on its draft proposal for a minimum standard for audit committees.  This follows the UK Government's Response to its consultation on Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance, which set out its intention to give ARGA statutory powers to mandate minimum standards for audit committees in their role on the external audit. The FRC are holding a webinar entitled “Effective and Transparent Regulating” on 24 November. This will provide an update of the work of the FRC in 2022 and a look ahead to 2023. Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued its October 2022 edition of the EFRAG Update. This summarises public technical discussions held and decisions taken during the month. EFRAG and the IASB are holding a joint online roundtable for preparers, users and auditors on Primary Financial Statements on Tuesday 15 November. The International Forum of Accounting Standard Setters (IFASS) have released a report with their key messages from their September 2022 meeting.               The IASB has published a user feedback newsletter on the IFRS for SMEs Accounting standard update. This newsletter explains how the IASB has responded to feedback from users of SMEs’ financial statements and describes the proposals the IASB published in its recent Exposure Draft. On 7 December 2022, EFRAG will hold its conference "Where is Corporate Reporting heading?" in Brussels to celebrate its 21-year anniversary and discuss EFRAG's major accomplishments, past and future. It will be an occasion to debate the new trends in corporate reporting following the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) revolution and the connectivity with financial reporting. Insolvency The Institute is hosting a webinar on SCARP – what we know so far now scheduled for Thursday, 1 December 2022 at 10am. Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars along with Laura-Michelle Moore from Chartered Accountants Ireland will discuss the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it. We will explore some practical issues including how SCARP is working in practice, dealing with creditors and what your balance sheet may look like before entering the process versus afterwards. This is a free event and open to all to attend. Sustainability The European Parliament has this week adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) with 525 votes in favour, 60 votes against and 28 abstentions. The CSRD was originally proposed by the European Commission in April 2021, and it will make companies more accountable by obliging them to disclose information on their societal and environmental impact. This will now go forward to the Council of the European Union for adoption of the proposal on 28 November 2022. The first new sustainability reporting standards will be adopted by the Commission in 2023 with these becoming mandatory over the next few years, beginning in 2024 for the very large companies. Please see the press release and the text of the CSRD adopted by the EU Parliament for further information. CDP, the not-for-profit which runs the global environmental disclosure platform for corporations, and the IFRS Foundation have announced that CDP will incorporate the International Sustainability Standard Board’s (ISSB) IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures Standard [IFRS S2] into its global environmental disclosure platform, in a major step towards delivering a comprehensive global baseline for capital markets through the adoption of ISSB standards. The ISSB have also made some other announcements in the past week, including; Details of discussions held on the reference to other standards to support interoperability with other sustainability related standards November 2022 supplementary update A summary of its main achievements, in the year following its creation at COP 26 in November 2021. Announcement of implementation steps that will help jurisdictions prepare for its implementation. The Irish government this week launched a report outlining the skills required by the domestic retail financial services sector to finance Ireland’s net zero transition. You can read the press release here. The report highlights how education and training in sustainable finance to date has concentrated on the financial and capital markets, such as green bonds, regulatory developments, and sustainable investment funds, with a greater focus on the Irish retail financial services sector talent development a next key step. Click here for a copy of the report. In its recently released report “Getting to Net Zero: A Global Review of Corporate Disclosures” the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) have highlighted the inconsistency and incomparability of target disclosures and have highlighted that COP27 is the perfect time to dig into what is being disclosed and to explore how emission disclosures can become more decision-useful. Anti-money laundering The latest edition of the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU)'s SARs Reporter Booklet is now available on the NCA website and can be accessed here. It is a product for reporters of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and readers are reminded that if you are making a SARs report you must use a glossary code, details of which are set out in the booklet. Chartered Accountants Ireland Professional Standards has recently issued the UK AML Supervision Report 2021/2022 in accordance with Reg 46A of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (as amended). The report reflects the significant efforts of Chartered Accountants Ireland in meeting its anti-money laundering (AML) supervisory obligations for the year to 5 April 2022. It also provides details of firm inspection activity for the year and the results arising from this. Readers can access a copy of the report here . Other news A reminder to readers that Charity Trustees’ Week is taking place from 14 - 18 November 2022.It is hosted in partnership by the Charities Regulator, Boardmatch Ireland, Carmichael, Charities Institute Ireland, Dóchas, Pobal, The Wheel, and Volunteer Ireland. The Charities Regulator has put up a calendar of events on its website and you can click here to get further information on those events. The Pensions Authority published information this week for group pension schemes that are subject to the 1 January 2023 compliance deadline where these pension schemes must meet the full requirements of the Pensions Act, 1990, as amended, including the new requirements of the IORP II Directive, from 1 January 2023 onwards. Please click here to see the press release on the Authority’s website. The Irish government recently amended the Work Life Balance Bill and approved the integration of the right to request remote work for all workers into the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill. This bill is expected to be delivered by the end of the year. Under the new legislation employees will have a legal right to request remote working from their employer. In addition, employers will now be required to have regard to a code of practice when considering requests. The principal differences in the integrated Bill compared with the original Right to Request Remote Working Bill are in the grounds for refusal and the right to redress.  Readers can find out further information on this development in the press release here . The latest blog from the Governor of the Central Bank may be of interest to some readers. It discusses the sector of non -banks, their growth, vulnerabilities, and the need for well-developed macroprudential policy for non-banks. You can read the blog here. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform this week issued interim guidance for public bodies and prescribed persons on the Protected Disclosures Act. Amending legislation will commence on 1 January 2023.The interim guidance has been prepared to assist public sector employers and prescribed persons in implementing the new requirements of the amended legislation as regards the establishment and operation of internal and external reporting channels. Following commencement, this interim Guidance will be issued as formal Statutory Guidance. Please  click here for the press release and click here and scroll to bottom of the page  for a copy of the interim guidance. The UK FCA Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer, spoke recently on the area of regulation and risk management of Artificial Intelligence in financial services. Topics included the central role of the governance framework for AI and the key question for financial services of whether AI can be managed through fine-tuning the existing regulatory framework, or whether a new approach is needed. Here she made reference to the FCA and Bank of England’s AI Discussion Paper which can be accessed from within the speech. Access to the contents of the speech can be found here. The UK Charity Commission have provided some guidance on their new way of engaging with charities via their “My Charities Commission Account”. The Charity Commission in Northern Ireland has released a report on its Independent Review of Charity Regulation. The report contains 93 recommendations on changes that could be considered to improve the delivery of services and the operation of the regulatory framework. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.