Audit and Assurance
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Audit and Assurance
The annual preparation of your company’s financial statements needs to be completed to comply with statutory requirements as defined in the Companies Act 2014 and the Companies Accounting Act 2017. In preparing these financial statements the company will need to decide whether or not it will need to perform an audit or if it can claim audit exemption. This decision will be determined by the size of the company. You can verify your company’s size using the table below.
| Micro | Small | Medium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turnover | €700,000 | €12,000,000 | €40,000,000 |
| Assets | €350,000 | €6,000,000 | €20,000,000 |
| Average Employees | 10 | 50 | 250 |
If the company satisfies any two of the three above elements, i.e. if it does not exceed the limits mentioned above, then it will be defined as that company size.
Audit and Assurance Services
- Statutory Audit including Group Audits and Consolidated Financial Statements
- Internal Audit
- Compliance Audit and Support
- Risk Management
- Corporate Compliance and Governance
- Corporate Governance
- Grant Audits
- System & Control Audits
Claiming Audit Exemption
A company or group is eligible for audit exemption if it meets at least two of the following requirements:
- The balance sheet total assets of the individual company or in group structures (holding company and subsidiaries) taken as a whole does not exceed €6m net (or €7.2m gross)
- The amount of turnover of the individual company or in group structures (holding company and subsidiaries) taken as a whole does not exceed €12m net (or €14.4m gross)
- The average number of persons employed by the individual company or in group structures (holding company and subsidiaries) does not exceed 50.
In order for a company to avail of audit exemption, the balance sheet of the company must contain a declaration to that effect made by the directors of the company, and the annual return itself must declare that an exemption is being claimed. Audit exemption is available for dormant companies under a specified section of the Companies Act.
Loss of Audit Exemption
Audit exemption for Irish companies can be lost if their annual return is filed late. This results in the company losing audit exemption for the next two years, regardless of the company’s trading activities. It is therefore important to keep on top of filing deadlines to avoid this costly burden.
Limitations of Audit Exemption
Certain companies such as Public Limited Companies and Public Unlimited Companies cannot avail of audit exemption in any circumstances. Companies Limited by Guarantee can claim audit exemption, unless an audit is requested by one member. A company with Charitable Status can claim audit exemption, unless requested by one member, and so long as its turnover is below €100,000 per annum.
Audit
We understand that for any business, the requirements of an audit places additional strain and stress on, already overworked, directors and business owners. We tailor our audit approach to ensure minimum disruption to your business, whilst maintaining the requisite audit requirements. Auditing is an area that is constantly changing, and we ensure that we remain up-to-date on the latest legislation and requirements.
If an audit is required, we take a systematic approach, working under International Auditing Standards (ISA). Our firm is subject to continual monitoring and review by our regulator, Chartered Accountants Ireland. This means our clients are assured of the quality of our work and know that it is carried out in accordance with current best practice. Our audit partners, managers and staff work together as one specialist team, ensuring that audits are cost effective and that technical issues are dealt with swiftly and practically.
If your company is part of a group, you may require an overall group audit. In such situations, our experience in dealing with multiple organisations in a group audit situation will ensure the audit is dealt with smoothly and cost effectively.
Audit Committee
Certain large companies may be required, pursuant to Section 167 Companies Act 2014, to create an audit committee for the purposes of overseeing and monitoring the process.
To discuss how we could help you meet your auditing and assurance requirements, or indeed to avail of audit exemption, contact us today.
