Deirdre Moran, Professional Accounting lead and Lilian Halpin technical manager on the Professional Accounting team in the Institute attended the Corporate Enforcement Authority's second annual conference on 17 October. A very interesting day and here are some of the learnings that our members may be interested in ….
Please click this link to the CEA website where you can scroll to the bottom of the page to access some of the slides and lectures which were made available from the day.
Minister Dara Calleary opened proceedings with an overview of corporate and regulatory government policies including reference to the passage of the Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Bill 2024 through the houses of the Oireachtas with the intention of bringing the Bill to the Seanad in November.
Mr Justice Brian Murray gave an enlightening lecture on legal costs and third-party funding, referencing caselaw on whether winner takes all and considering whether costs follow the event.
James Dwyer SC provided an overview of sentencing corporate offences with fines being the penalty mostly imposed on companies as they cannot be imprisoned, bailed or do community service. We learned that community service is a method of punishing companies in the US.
Cliona Kimber SC spoke on enforcing directors’ fiduciary duties discussing the very interesting concept of a cipher director and directors’ duties under the Companies Acts.
Declan Hughes Sec. General of DETE told the audience about European and domestic enterprise policy referring to the government’s white paper on enterprise and also the Department’s work in areas such as CSRD, CSDDD and the Artificial Intelligence Act, transposition of which is ongoing. He also welcomed the role of Michael Mc Grath TD as EU Commissioner designate for Democracy Justice and Rule of law whose portfolio will include company law.
Sinead Donovan of Grant Thornton Ireland took the floor to describe the changing face of the accountancy profession and set out some of the top issues for accountants including a decline in numbers going into the profession. She dismissed a myth that accountants might be boring pointing to areas of interest such as AI, data, ESG and M&A work.
Derarca Dennis, Partner EY Ireland was the last speaker before lunch presenting on sustainability and the issues and challenges facing boards .She referenced the Greenwashing Directive which is coming down the line and spoke about other topics including the top 3 things investors want companies to focus on in 2024 and challenges to developing a sustainability strategy .She alluded to compliance risk being a big risk that reporters worry about and the importance of protecting against litigation.
First up in the afternoon was Henry Mathews Head of Special Financial Crimes Unit DPP’s office. He outlined some of the reasons the DPP might prosecute -existence of a prima facie case, reasonable prospect of success (50/50) and public interest. He reminded the room that there is no deferred prosecution process in Ireland and also said that it’s likely that corporate” mens rea” offences similar to those in the UK under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, 2023 will happen in this jurisdiction also, in time .He referenced the cases of DPP vs T.N 2020 IESC 26 and DPP vs Hegarty 2011 IESC 32 in considering what a “manager “ is.
To round off the afternoon colleagues from the UK were hosted. Dean Beale, CEO and Dave Magrath Director of Investigation and Enforcement Services, UK Insolvency Service spoke about the view from the UK of Insolvency and corporate enforcement including the mention of a change from prosecuting insolvent companies only, to live companies also .Emma Luxton Interim Chief Operating Officer, UK Serious Fraud Office finished off the conference speaking about fighting fraud and bribery tools, techniques and technology with crypto experts, machine learning experts and tools ,data analysts and a graphics team now part of the staff of the SFO in the continued fight against fraud .
This information is provided as resources and information only and nothing in these pages purports to provide professional advice or definitive legal interpretation(s) or opinion(s) on the applicable legislation or legal or other matters referred to in the pages. If the reader is in doubt on any matter in this complex area further legal or other advice must be obtained. While every reasonable care has been taken by the Institute in the preparation of these pages, we do not guarantee the accuracy or veracity of any resource, guidance, information or opinion, or the appropriateness, suitability or applicability of any practice or procedure contained therein. The Institute is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of the resources or information contained in these pages.
LOADING...