Ireland · Financial statements, the annual return and audit

The audit requirement, the audit exemption statement and the dormant company exemption

the Companies Act 2014 · sections 333, 335, 337, 365, 388 and 404

The exemption is claimed on the face of the balance sheet, in a fixed position. If a company avails itself of the audit exemption in a financial year, the balance sheet for that year must contain a statement by the directors in the terms section 335(1) requires. That statement must appear in the balance sheet immediately above the signatures of the directors required by section 324, or above the statement section 335(2) names as the alternative. A statement placed in the notes does not satisfy the section.

The dormant company exemption depends on a decision that is recorded before the fact. Section 365(3) applies where the directors are of the opinion that the company will satisfy the condition in section 365(2) for the year and decide that the company should avail itself of the exemption, and that decision is recorded by the directors in the minutes of the meeting concerned (section 365(1)). A minute written after the year end does not make the decision.

The directors of a company must arrange for the statutory financial statements for a financial year to be audited by statutory auditors unless the company is entitled to, and chooses to, avail itself of an exemption (section 333). Where a company has availed itself of the audit exemption, it must, if required by the Authority, give the access and the information section 335(5) describes.

Section 337 governs the statutory auditors' report and what it must state. Section 388 gives the statutory auditors the right to the information and explanations the section names. Section 404 deals with a casual vacancy: where, for any reason, during the period between the conclusion of one annual general meeting and the conclusion of the next, a statutory auditor ceases to hold office, the section governs what follows (section 404(1)).

Working files 56 and 57 of the IE-COMPANY agent toolkit cover this situation. Working file 56 works through whether the company is entitled to an exemption, which exemption is claimed, where the statement sits on the balance sheet and how the dormant company decision was minuted. Working file 57 works through the statutory auditors' report, the auditors' right to information and the notifications that go to the Supervisory Authority.

• Working file 56 · The audit requirement, the audit exemption statement and the dormant company exemption
• Working file 57 · The statutory auditors' report, the right to information and notification to the Supervisory Authority

ComplianceSME tracks the Companies Act 2014 and updates the toolkit on your account through the Compliance Complete account, so that you are never working from a superseded version. Compliance Complete

• Company size, the financial year and accounting records
• Preparing entity and group financial statements
• Disclosing directors' remuneration, loans and other transactions
• Notes on related undertakings, staff numbers, capital and financial assistance
• Approving and signing the financial statements and the directors' report
• Circulating the financial statements and delivering the annual return
• Revising defective financial statements and reports
• Appointing, removing and replacing the statutory auditor

The Irish library holds all 75 situations →