IAASA, Ireland’s accounting enforcer recently published a compendium of financial reporting decisions. These decisions relate to accounting treatments applied by CRH plc, Flutter Entertainment plc and Tullow Oil plc in their 2021 annual financial reports.

The published decisions extent over a range of accounting treatments applied under accounting requirements including:

• IAS 36 Impairment of Assets
• IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets
• IFRS 8 Operating Segments
• ESMA Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measures
• Management Report – Transparency (Directive 2004/109/EC) Regulations 2007

These published decisions are either instances where the company voluntarily agreed to enhance its accounting treatment or disclosures in future financial reports to address matters identified during IAASA’s examinations or decisions where IAASA agreed with the accounting treatment applied by the company.

It is noteworthy that, reflecting public concern about climate change companies’ responses to that and the sustainability agenda, for the first time these decisions cover accounting for climate change and sustainability initiatives.

The financial reporting decisions for each company are included in a compendium of decisions which may be accessed here:

IAASA’s policy on publishing financial reporting decisions and the criteria to be met for such decisions to be published is set out in IAASA’s Policy Paper, Publication of information regarding IAASA’s financial reporting supervision activities (revised December 2022).

While IAASA has heretofore published decisions periodically as a compendium, under this revised Publications Policy, decisions will, in future, be published on an individual basis soon after the decision is reached.

A new CPD cycle commenced in 2023 and per CPD requirements of CPA Bye-Law 8 Members in Practice and working in Practice are required to attain a total of 120 hours over a three year CPD cycle, of which 75 hours are Structured CPD and 45 hours are Unstructured CPD.

At a minimum requirement is 30 hours of CPD of which at least 15 hours must be structured in any one year.

Core Competencies for Practising Certificate Holders

For holders of Practising Certificates 40 hours of the Structured CPD requirement must be completed from any combination of the following six areas over a three-year CPD cycle:

• Financial Accounting
• Auditing
• Law & Regulation
• Taxation
• Professional Ethics
• Practice Management

Statutory Auditors

A member who is also a statutory auditor shall develop and maintain professional competence that is demonstrated by the achievement of the learning outcomes of Table A of IES 8, Professional Competence for Engagement Partners Responsible for Audits of Financial Statements (Revised).

Such statutory auditors shall undertake CPD that develops and maintains the professional competence required for the role of an engagement partner.

A member who is also a statutory auditor is required to ensure that they keep their professional knowledge up to date in:

1. The Irish Auditing Framework
2. Financial Reporting standards in use in Ireland and
3. Irish and EU legislation relevant to the preparation of financial statements and to statutory audit and auditors

To achieve this a member who is also a statutory auditor, is required to complete 20 hours of their 40-hour core competency requirement in the following areas:

• Financial Accounting
• Auditing
• Law & Regulation