Irish Published Accounts under Scrutiny

Published accounts are subject to more scrutiny than ever before due to increased interest in, and understanding of, accounting issues by financial analysts, business commentators and the financial press. Discussion of accounting issues in national newspapers and business magazines is now commonplace. The goodwill debate, brands accounting and off balance sheet financing are some of the more recent controversial issues. Apart from significantly increased regulation following implementation of the EC Fourth Directive and 20 years of standard setting, there is a movement to encourage voluntary disclosures and improved financial reporting; events such as the Published Accounts Award organised by the Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants are part of this movement. The recent publication of “A Survey of Irish Published Accounts” is the first independent assessment of accounting and disclosure practices of Irish companies. The survey was launched by the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Mr. Desmond O'Malley, T.D. on April 24th last at a reception in University College Dublin. The Minister welcomed the survey and said that “it provided a comprehensive body of information which can be used to judge compliance with standards, to identify problem areas in standards and to develop best practice”. He went on to say that the Irish accountancy profession would find the survey a valuable resource document when contributing to the deliberations of the international accounting standards committee, FEE, and other international organisations.