Partnership law
A new publication providing guidance on partnership law is available from ACCA and is free to download. Authored by Bill Holohan SC and Alan Raftery, both of Holohan Lane LLP Solicitors, it deals with all aspects of running a business through a partnership in Ireland.
It includes salary versus equity partners, the power to bind the partnership, legal liability of partners, the dissolution of partnerships, and joint and several liability. The relevant Irish case law is also cited and explained.
Data analytics and audit
The Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA) has published a thematic paper discussing the use of data analytics in Ireland’s statutory audit market. Auditors are increasingly using data analytics in areas such as testing, sample selection and risk assessment.
In one example, an auditor was able to interrogate the client data to pull out all journals or postings by a named individual or list out transactions with certain characteristics. The use of data analytics should reduce the cost of an audit and increase the effectiveness of the audit procedures.
When reviewing audit files where data analytics were used, the IAASA wants to see the following: the audit team have the appropriate competence and capabilities to perform the data analytics procedures; the integrity of the data has been maintained throughout the data analysis process; and the work of data analytics specialists is adequately reflected in the audit working papers.
A number of additional fact sheets summarising insights from this paper are available to download.
The Technology Working Group of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) released non-authoritative support material to help auditors understand how to plan an audit under International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 300, Planning an Audit of Financial Statements, when using automated tools and techniques (ATT), such as data analytics.
Auditors are increasingly using data analytics in areas such as testing, sample selection and risk assessment
Economic coercion
The European Commission has proposed a new tool to counter the use of economic coercion by third countries. This legal instrument is in response to EU member states becoming the target of economic pressures.
SCARP contact point
Two financial institutions, AIB and EBS, have put in place a dedicated contact point for process advisors appointed under the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP). The contact point is SCARP@aib.ie
Corporate Enforcement Authority
The Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Act 2021 was signed by the president on 22 December 2021. The Act will transform the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) into a statutory and independent agency entitled the Corporate Enforcement Authority, with additional resources to investigate and prosecute white collar crime.
