I am delighted to bring you our inaugural digital only version of Accountancy Plus. This enhanced publication has been created in collaboration with Vertiqul software and heralds a new chapter that combines an exceptional reader experience with having a very positive environmental impact. This format will allow you to easily share content, access the journal at any time and the digital copy also allows you to easily navigate to links within the content.

We are dedicated to becoming a sustainable organisation and the move to a digital only journal is an important step in significantly reducing CPA Irelands carbon footprint.

As the final quarter of 2022 approaches, Council and the Executive of CPA Ireland are continuing to focus on the key strategic pillars of Brand, Product, Customer Centricity, People & Global.

Those of a right-wing ideological pre-disposition generally tend to advocate a low level of government interference in our lives and hence tend to advocate for lower taxes and lower levels of public expenditure. In contrast, those of a left-wing persuasion tend to advocate for high levels of public expenditure and high levels of taxation to pay for that expenditure.

Economists are often accused of being obsessed with economy and of ignoring society. I tend to be of the view that without a well-functioning economy and strong sustainable levels of economic activity, the tax revenues to fund public expenditure and hence society will not be generated. Witness the level of tax buoyancy experienced in Ireland over the past couple of years. Consequently, I believe that it is important to foster strong and sustainable economic growth to generate tax revenues, and then it is up to the political system to decide how those resources should be allocated.

As with a lot of things in life I asked my father for advice! As a past President of the Institute of Tax he had a good knowledge of the options available to me. Given where I was in my career and my aspirations being in industry rather than in practise, CPA Ireland offered the versatility and industry insights that would accelerate a career change. 

Although FRS 102 is subject to a major review every 5 years, some minor changes have been reflected in the standard during the interim years. These are usually caused by developments in the external environment and have to be incorporated expediently into the standard. Recent examples of this are the amendments to accounting for rent concessions caused by Covid 19 and to interest rate benchmark reform caused by the demise of LIBOR. These changes have been incorporated in the latest edition of FRS 102 published in January 2022.

The CSRD brings sustainability reporting to the same level as financial reporting for the first time ever. This is fundamental to support the EU Green Deal’s ambitions and transform Europe into the first climate neutral economy by 2050. Accountancy Europe welcomed the final text agreed by the co-legislators.

The accountancy profession will need to be ready for this crucial shift and make sure we can support the CRSD’s reporting and assurance aspects.

My first choice of career was in the area of sport, I had hope to gain an athletic scholarship to one of the American universities back in the early 1980’s that was offered to a small few. I was lucky enough to have been able to represent Ireland in track events from 200m, 400m & 800m both indoor & outdoor events European and World Athletic Championships.

From a young age, I knew that this mixture of scholarly pursuits and personal know-how was a space in which I could succeed in and the accountancy profession offered me that fabulous opportunity. I began my career as trainee accountant in 1980 with a firm of Chartered Accountants based in Fade Street, Dublin 2 and had a great mentor in Conor Ryan who allowed me progress to be appointed audit manager and remain with this firm until 1990.

Today, sustainability and financial information are often dealt with in separate parts of an organisation. In a world where sustainability and financial risks are converging, these information silos are barriers to developing better systems to enhance the quality and reliability of data and advance sustainability and enhance corporate reporting.

There are clear financial aspects and implications for businesses and organisations engaging in the circular economy, highlighting various roles for accountants and financial experts in areas such as planning, decision-making, and reporting. As policy developments suggest an expectation that all entities will engage in the circular economy in the coming years, the development of knowledge and skills in this area is a priority for third-level accounting and finance programmes and for continuous professional development.

AIB continue to embed Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations into our business processes.

For business customers we introduced an ESG questionnaire for borrowers in sectors more exposed to climate risk as well as launching the AIB Sustainable Lending Framework which outlines clear criteria by which we will report our green, transition and social lending.

• The Movement of Excisable Products Manual
• The Administration & Control of Tax Warehouses Manual Part 2 – Breweries, Micro-Breweries and Cider Manufactures
• The Alcohol Products Tax and Reliefs Manual
• Guidance is also provided regarding the judgement given in the Y GmbH case (C668/20) concerning alcoholic products used in the flavouring of foodstuffs.

Source: www.revenue.ie

Since this is such a new type of asset and is neither regulated nor covered specifically within tax legislation, the updated Revenue guidance¹ published in April 2022 has proved helpful in demystifying some of the issues. As a further reference point, HMRC have published very detailed material² which can be useful in understanding some of the technical aspects involved in dealing in these assets.

The term cryptocurrency covers a wide variety of investments, such as Bitcoin, Digital Currencies and Tokens. While the types differ, in simple terms what we need to consider for tax purposes is that these are assets which can be bought and sold and to assess the tax impact of such transactions. Given that these types of assets can often be used to purchase goods or services, this raises an additional complication compared to share trading. In looking at whether a disposal has been made, we are not only considering straight sales of the asset for traditional currency, but also the exchange of the asset for a different asset type, and the exchange of the asset for goods or services received.

The number of audits considered good or requiring limited improvement has improved on the previous two years. It is clear that a combination of the FRC’s increasingly assertive supervision approach, as well as investment from the firms in their systems, people and capabilities to improve audit quality, is starting to have a positive impact.  

Encouragingly, five of the largest firms had no audits requiring significant improvements. KPMG’s individual audit inspections have significantly improved, which is promising, but is not yet a trend.

The FRC will continue to closely monitor KPMG banking audits.

The inspection results at Mazars and BDO remain unacceptable. Four of the eight audits reviewed at Mazars, and five of the 12 audits reviewed at BDO required more than limited improvements. Specific supervisory plans have been developed to closely monitor BDO and Mazars’ priority actions.

The FRC will continue to ensure the challenger firms are prioritising high quality audit with a view to offering increased choice and resilience in the market, but growth ambitions must also be tempered by a focus on quality first and foremost.

Read the FRC audit quality inspection and supervision overview report here 

Read the seven individual audit firm specific reports here

Source: www.frc.org

The FRC intend the framework to have the status of non-prescriptive guidance. It is intended to be persuasive, encapsulating good practice.

A business or workplace can hire coaches who have professional qualifications and accreditations. However, with the right tools and guidance, we can all be coaches. We can support our colleagues, teammates, direct reports and even
our friends through coaching.

This article sets out what is meant by coaching, the benefits of coaching and some core coaching skills. We will also look at a simple and effective coaching model, the “GROW” model. ​

The war for accountancy talent has intensified over the last few years. Globally organisations are struggling to attract and retain trainee talent. In Ireland, a decline in student registrations across all professional accountancy bodies exacerbated the situation and in 2018 the number of new accountancy students stood at -27% below pre- recession levels making it extremely challenging for members and employers to source accountancy trainees.

In response to the challenging recruitment market CPA Ireland launched the Trainee Placement Service in 2019. This complimentary recruitment initiative was set up to support members and employers in finding the right trainee talent for their organisation and to assist prospective students in finding a CPA trainee role. The team at CPA Ireland built out a robust trainee candidate attraction strategy including a brand-new job board, digital advertising, email campaigns and candidate personas. Trainee candidates receive ongoing support throughout their trainee job search with the ability to access a CV review, interview coaching and feedback. Members & employers have access to high calibre trainee talent without the high – costs associated with recruitment agencies and receive expert advice throughout the hiring process.

The Trainee Placement Service has been a huge success for CPA Ireland. Candidates who secure roles through the placement service are automatically registered as CPA students and in 2021 the service was cited as one of the top reasons perspective students choose the CPA Qualification. This year we have witnessed a notable uptick in interest from students and employers in both practice and industry.

Along with an increase in engagement we have achieved some impressive recruitment metrics which included filling a recent trainee role with a leading aviation company in just 10 days!

If your organisation has trainee recruitment plans now or in the future, please reach out directly to Caroline Moloney: cmoloney@cpaireland.ie

Practice:

• 75 structured hours
• 45 unstructured hours

Industry:

• 60 structured hours
• 60 unstructured hours

For our newer members who have qualified in the past two years your CPD requirements are calculated on a pro rata basis.

For example, if you work in practice and you were conferred in December 2021 you must complete 25 hours by the end of 2022 (50 hours if you were conferred in December 2020). If you work in industry and you were conferred in December 2021 you must complete 20 hours by the end of 2022 (40 hours if you were conferred in December 2020).

We will be running an extensive programme of conferences, webinars, full day courses and Post Qualification Specialisms throughout the remainder of the year – more than enough to fulfil all your requirements!

If you have any queries on your CPD hours please visit our CPD section of the website or contact Rachel Hawker, rhawker@cpaireland.ie