We had the pleasure of announcing a new partnership with the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CIIA). Members of CPA Ireland now have the option to join the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors by passing the online CIA challenge exam and satisfying the qualifications for good standing.

Cryptocurrency trading can be conducted by both retail traders (individual investors) as well as institutional traders (large organisations such as hedge funds). Because of the volatility and potential for high returns, cryptocurrency trading can be inherently risky. As such, traders should be well-informed and cautious when conducting such trades. It’s also important to utilise a reliable and reputable cryptocurrency exchange. Some exchanges are more appropriate for beginner traders, while others are designed for those with significant experience of conducting such trading activity.

This article will provide an insight to the basic underlying technology associated with cryptocurrencies, along with a synopsis of the key highlights in their development, advantages and risks, regulatory environment and financial reporting requirements.

I was born and raised in Limerick and sat my leaving cert in Castleknock College in Dublin and attended University of Limerick where I graduated with my CPA qualification followed by an MBA. I have worked for Dell Technologies for 32 years, initially in Limerick and later taking assignments in South Africa and Slovakia before settling down with my family in Austin, Texas. I have been married to Caroline for 35 years and have two adult children, Naomi and Andrew who both live and work in Austin.

I always enjoyed accounting in school and university. I started my working career in Supply Chain for a tech company, Wang Laboratories, but realised early on my passion was finance. I joined the Dell Technologies finance function, but I knew I needed the accounting qualification to be successful, and to gain the required expertise, credibility and confidence. You can only get so far without the qualification, and it’s a game changer and a ticket to entry for leadership positions.

There was therefore the need to develop a new standard that could:

As is the delayed nature of any financial penalties, the offending actions most likely happened a few years back. What is further alarming is the apparent repeat offending by large firms with the worst offender tipping the scales at over $8 billion and counting in fines since 2008 (the Financial Times Report). Perhaps the penalties being enforced on firms are not enough of a deterrent.

If you are a repeat offender, should you be penalised even further in a way that will affect your business until the message is received? With respect to banks, if they are always deemed as too big to fail, they will always be above the law. Is it simply cheaper to pay a fine than implement correct AML procedures? If so, then the way in which penalties are imposed will need to be revised.

The public consultation on the corporate sustainability reporting directive opened 30th January 2023 where the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment were seeking the views of stakeholders and interested parties on the Member State options contained within the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (EU) 2022/2464, ahead of its transposition into Irish Law.

https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/consultations/public-consultation-on-the-corporate-sustainability-reporting-directive.html

Minister of State with responsibility for Company Regulation at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Dara Calleary T.D., held a webinar 26th January 2023 on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

A new CPD cycle commenced in 2023 and per CPD requirements of CPA Bye-Law 8 Members not in Practice and not working in Practice are required to complete a total of 120 hours CPD over a three year CPD cycle of which 60 hours are structured CPD and 60 hours unstructured.

The minimum requirement is 20 hours of CPD of which at least 10 hours must be structured in any one year.

https://www.cpaireland.ie/getattachment/About-CPA/Bye-Laws/Bye-Law-8-1-Jan-2022-(1).pdf?lang=en-IE

1. Any payments made to employed persons in respect of expenses.
2. Any payments made on behalf of employed persons and not repaid, and
3. Any payments made to the employees in a trade or business for services rendered in connection with the trade or business, whether the services were rendered in the course of their employment or not.

Every employer, when required to do so by notice from an inspector, shall within the time limited by the notice prepare and deliver to the inspector a return containing:

1. Names and places of residence of all persons employed by that employer.
2. Particulars of any car within the meaning of Section 121 made available to those persons by reason of that employment.

3. Particulars of any preferential loan within the meaning of Section 122 made, released or written off by that employer in whole or in part and particulars of any interest released, written off or refunded by that employer in whole or in part and which was payable or paid on such loan.

It replaces the Code of Practice for Revenue Audits and other Compliance Interventions 2019 (the 2019 Code) however compliance interventions that were in progress prior to 1 May 2022 will continue under the 2019 Code.

Its hugely important when preparing projections and plans to be on the conservative side as there will be pressure on farm incomes in the years to come.

This article gives an outline of the tax issues and the background to what is happening. I look forward to presenting on the more technical points of the article at the upcoming CPA Tax Conference on 9th March.

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:

Surprisingly this isn’t an article focusing mainly on fraud, it is as much -if not more – about avoiding serious mistakes for your business or practice. It is more relevant, in my view, for business leaders, company directors, Audit & Risk committee chairs and CFOs as it is for auditors.

When left to fester, these unprocessed thoughts can act as serious blockers to our self-improvement and self-development. These internal critics may cause us to make irrational decisions or to not make a decision at all. Let’s examine each of them below:

Firstly, they rely on a lot of time-consuming and often tedious manual labour. It’s time that could be better spent advising your clients – or simply having a better work-life balance.

They are also only as accurate as the data that’s in them. When manual data entry is involved, there’s always the risk of error. If one number is input incorrectly, something is copied and pasted incorrectly or there is a formatting error, it can cause a lot of headaches down the line and be costly for your practice. You’re probably extremely careful for this very reason – but it’s a lot of responsibility for you and your staff, and even the best of us can make a mistake sometimes.

And then there are the brand benefits. When it comes to using the .cpa domain to support their brand and marketing strategies, firms have been steadily innovating, creating new opportunities and advantages that weren’t immediately obvious. As a result, in only a short time the profession has seen a host of new domain strategies take flight – and they’re just getting started.

Critical thinking is considered one of four key 21st century skills, the others being communication, collaboration, and creativity.² To prosper in the 21st century, students need more than knowledge, they need the ability to collaborate, communicate and problem-solve³ plus the ability to connect. Mazzola-Randles (2020) identified connectedness as the fifth 21st Century skill and it includes, “consideration of digital wellbeing and digital identity, contribution in a digital environment, commitment to learning, curating and supporting digital content and building communities,”⁴ these qualities are viewed as essential for students to become successful in the 4th industrial revolution.

As part of the Professional Standards team the successful candidate will be required to:

• Conduct the Institute’s programme of Quality Assurance (QA) reviews from planning to reporting for selected practices, including onsite reviews throughout Ireland.

If you graduated in December 2022, your CPD requirements begin in January 2023, which is year 1 of our 3 year CPD cycle.