September Issue 2022
Accountancy Plus
The Official Journal of CPA Ireland
First digital only version of Accountancy Plus
CPA Ireland logo
Introduction
Editorial
Accountancy Plus
September 2022
CPA Ireland

17 Harcourt Street,
Dublin 2, D02 W963

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Editor
Patricia O’Neill

Chief Executive
Eamonn Siggins

Editorial Adviser
Róisín McEntee

Technical Adviser
Laurence D’Arcy

Advertising
Ciara Durham

T: 086 852 3463
E: accountancyplus@gmail.com

Published by
Nine Rivers Media Ltd.
E: gary@ninerivers.ie

President’s Message
President’s Message

Welcome to the September 2022 edition of Accountancy Plus.

Headshot of Aine Collins

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.

Opinion
The Importance Of Economic Growth by Jim Power
The Importance of Economic Growth To Generate the Tax Revenues Needed to Fund Public Expenditure.
by Jim Power
In terms of the economic and political ideological divide, the main area of disagreement in general revolves around the level of government involvement in the running of the economy and indeed of our lives in general. Obviously, the level of public expenditure and the amount of tax revenues collected are key indicators of just how much involvement government has.

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.

CPA Profile
MacDara Howley

CPA Profile MacDara Howley
Headshot of Aine Collins
Title: Vice President, Operations Innovation Finance
Company: Medtronic
Qualifications: CPA
Why did you decide to start out in a career in accountancy?
Strangely it took the banking collapse in 2008 to kick start my accountancy career. Having finished college with a business studies degree majoring in Accounting I decided that finance wasn’t for me and pursued a career elsewhere. I was working in Procurement in AIB at the time of the crash, its impact made a lot of people in the banking industry consider their options. Looking back on my career to that point, the common thread in my success across numerous industries was my financial acumen and how I used that in day-to-day operations, so the decision to qualify as an accountant was an easy one.

Why did you choose CPA Ireland as your qualification route?

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. 

FINANCIAL REPORTING
Financial Reporting News

Financial Reporting News
International Accounting Standards Board sets out its 2022–2026 priorities

The IFRS Foundation’s International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has today published its Third Agenda Consultation Feedback Statement and Snapshot outlining its priorities for the next five years.

The Feedback Statement explains the reasons for the IASB’s decisions and shows how the IASB responded to the extensive feedback from its diverse stakeholders.

This feedback, obtained via a public consultation in 2021, has helped to shape the IASB’s activities and work plan.

The three main strategic priorities are to:

  • maintain the strategic direction and balance of the IASB’s activities while increasing slightly efforts to develop digital financial reporting and improving the understandability and accessibility of IFRS Accounting Standards;
  • progress current projects; and
  • add intangibles, statement of cash flows and climate-related risk in financial statements to the work plan.
Source: www.ifrs.org
The FRC and FCA find significant progress, but further improvement needed under new climate rules
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have published two reports which found that premium listed companies have made significant steps forward in the quality of climate-related information provided in their financial reports, but further improvements are needed.

Since 2021, premium listed commercial companies have been required to include a statement in their annual financial report, setting-out whether they have made disclosures consistent with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ (TCFD) recommendations.

The FRC reviewed 25 larger companies more impacted by climate change and found that companies were able to provide many of the TCFD disclosures expected by the FCA’s Listing Rule, and climate-related reporting in the financial statements, marking a significant improvement in comparison with previous years.

However, there are several areas where companies will need to raise the quality of their disclosures in future years.

Financial Reporting
Likely developments in FRS 102 from the triennial review by Robert Kirk
Likely developments in FRS 102 from the triennial review
by Robert Kirk
FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland has been effective since 2015 but the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) agreed that it should be subject to periodic review.
The first review took place in 2016-17 and over 150 amendments were introduced at that time, effective from January 2019. The FRC commenced their latest review in March 2021 with a target of publishing an exposure draft in late 2022. Once the exposure draft has been subject to public consultation, a revised standard will likely be issued in early 2023 with the objective of it being effective from January 2025 at the earliest.

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.

Financial Reporting
CSRD: a major shift towards a climate neutral EU by Hilde Blomme
CSRD: a major shift towards a climate neutral EU
by Hilde Blomme
On 21 June 2022, EU policymakers reached an agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This law will introduce more detailed reporting requirements than the existing Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). 50,000 companies will now have to comply with the new rules, compared to 12,000 in the NFRD.
Companies will have to disclose sustainability information in their management reports according to mandatory sustainability reporting standards and present it in a digital, machine-readable format. The CSRD will also require limited assurance on sustainability reporting. These are key changes that the CSRD brings in and that we will explore below.

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.

Law & Regulation
Law & Regulation News
Law & Regulation News
Sick pay legislation approved by Oireachtas
The Sick Leave Bill 2022 will initially provide workers with statutory entitlement to sick pay for three days per year, rising to five days in 2024, seven days in 2025, and 10 days in 2026.

Statutory sick pay will be paid by employers at a rate of 70 per cent of an employee’s wage, subject to a daily maximum of €110, which can be revised by ministerial order in line with inflation and changing incomes.

Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste and minister for enterprise, trade and employment, said: “This is a really important new employment right, that all workers will now have, no matter what their illness or job.

“Many employers pay sick pay, but the pandemic really highlighted the vulnerability of some workers, especially in the private sector and those on low pay. We’ve also been behind our European counterparts on this, with Ireland being one of the few advanced countries without such a scheme.

“No worker should feel pressurised to come into work when they are unwell. It’s not good for their own health obviously, but it’s also bad for their colleagues, any customers they deal with and their employer. From later this year, all workers will have the safety net of knowing they will not lose out on payment if they are unwell and can’t come into work.”

Source: www.irishlegal.com

Law strengthening protections for whistle-blowers enacted
The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 transposes the EU Whistleblowing Directive into Irish law and extends the scope of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 to provide protections for volunteers, shareholders, board members and job applicants for the first time.

The new law will require private sector organisations with 50 or more employees to establish formal channels and procedures for their employees to make protected disclosures, as is currently the case in the public sector, with the Workplace Relations Commission taking responsibility for monitoring and enforcement.

The law also provides for the establishment of a new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner in the Office of the Ombudsman later this year.

The commissioner will direct protected disclosures to the most appropriate body when it is unclear which body is responsible to help ensure that all protected disclosures will be dealt with appropriately.

To access the article in full, refer to the following link.

Source: www.irishlegal.com

Law & Regulation
Navigating Gender Pay Gap Reporting by Sarah Fagan
Navigating Gender Pay Gap Reporting
by Sarah Fagan
Attaining a better gender equality in the workplace took a significant step forward in June as organisations with 250+ employees are now legally required to report their gender pay gap. The Gender Pay Gap Information Act, signed into law in July 2021, requires businesses to publish their first report by the end of this year.
Under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021, employers are obliged to report the hourly Gender Pay Gap across several metrics and publish this information by December 2022. The Gender Pay Gap information must be published on the employer’s website or in an alternative manner that is accessible to all its employees and to the public.

In May 2022, the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth published its guidance on how employers should calculate the Gender Pay Gap in their Organisation, which was updated in June 2022.

The guidance states that employers choose a ‘snapshot’ date in June 2022 of their employees and report on the hourly Gender Pay Gap for those employees on the same date six months later (December 2022). The guidance also outlined what information is required to be reported and how it should be used to calculate the gender pay gap. In summary, employers are required to report:

Finance & Management
Finance & Management News
Finance & Management News
Irish M&A deals fall 52% in value in first half from record 2021
The value of inbound investment and takeover deals involving Irish companies fell by 52% in the first half of the year to $6.08 billion (€6 billion) from a record-breaking six months at the start of 2021, according to EY Ireland, as the corporate world navigates challenging geopolitical and economic headwinds.

However, the number of transactions declined by only 9.3%to 117, EY said. The value of deals in the most recent period was down only 17 per cent from the second half of last year, underscoring how Irish M&A figures, because of the small size of the market, can be skewed by some large accords.

Feargal McAleavey, head of corporate finance at EY Ireland, said that a slowdown in investment “three to four months ago has slowly spread to Europe, with some impact in Ireland”.

While Mr McAleavey said there continued to be a lot of venture capital and private equity money globally looking for investments “there’ll definitely be a pullback in valuations” of private M&A deals, in line with a decline by stocks on public markets in recent times. The MSCI All Country World Index, a gauge of equities globally, has fallen by 17.5% so far this year.

To access the article in full, refer to the following link

Source: www.irishtimes.com

Card spending decreased 4% in June – Central Bank
Card spending, including ATM transactions, amounted to €8.2 billion in June, according to figures from the Central Bank of Ireland.

It represented a decrease of 4% compared to May and an increase of 16% compared to June 2021, when public health restrictions limited some in-person spending.

Debit card spending was 87% of total card spending at €7.1 billion, while credit card spending was at €1.1 billion.

The data shows that point of sale spending was 18% higher in June when compared to June 2021, at €7 billion, while ATM transactions increased by 6%, to €1.17 billion. ATM transactions continue to remain subdued compared to pre-pandemic levels and were 14% below February 2020 figures.

The volume of PoS card transactions was 10% higher in June when compared to June 2021. The average value of transactions remained relatively unchanged at €44.57 per transaction in June 2022.

The Central Bank figures show that total card expenditure outside of Ireland increased by 16%, or €66 million, when compared to the previous month. When compared to June 2021 this represents an increase of 170%, or €301 million.

Finance & Management
Leadership Insight: John McCarrick

Leadership Insight: John McCarrick

John McCarrick
Title: Principal Partner,
Trustee & Chairperson
Company: John McCarrick & Associates, The Kenyan Child Foundation CLG

Winner of the Irish Accountancy Award 2022 for CSR initiative of the year: Back to School.

What led you to a career in accountancy?

During my secondary school education, I enjoyed studying accountancy, economics and mathematics.

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.

Finance & Management
Delivering Sustainability Starts With an Integrated Mindset by Kevin Dancey

Delivering Sustainability
Starts With an Integrated Mindset

by Kevin Dancey

IFAC recently issued a call-to-action titled Championing an Integrated Mindset to Drive Sustainable Value Creation encouraging business leaders to promote and enable an integrated mindset to drive trust and sustainable value creation. At its core, an integrated mindset is about improving the quality of sustainability information and processes and connecting these to financial reporting and the value of the business.

Why is an Integrated Mindset Important?

This is one of IFAC’s most important initiatives this year on behalf of the profession. An integrated mindset is necessary to deliver high-quality and decision-useful information to management and boards and investors. It involves developing processes and systems to generate robust data, decision making by senior management, oversight by boards, trusted integrated corporate reporting, and ultimately assurance. If companies get this right, independent external assurance delivered by the public accounting firms becomes easier.

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.

Finance & Management
The Circular Economy by Louise Gorman & Seán O’Reilly

The Circular Economy:
Policy, Disclosure and the Role of the Accountant

by Louise Gorman & Seán O’Reilly

Understandings of the term ‘the circular economy’ vary in depth and breadth. The Irish Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has recently advised that participation in the circular economy requires keeping resources in use for as long as possible, extracting the maximum value from them whilst in use, and then recovering and regenerating products and materials at the end of life.
Perhaps the most internationally recognised organisational advocate of the circular economy, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, describes the circular economy as having a basis on three principles: (i) eliminating waste and pollution; (ii) circulating products and materials (at their highest value); and (iii) regenerating nature. From this perspective, the circular economy is underpinned by a transition to renewable energy and materials and decouples economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. The emphasis is on the resilience of the economic system and the benefits derived for business, people and the environment.

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.

Finance & Management
Progressing the Sustainability Agenda by AIB

Progressing the Sustainability Agenda for Our Customers and Our Business

by AIB

As Ireland’s largest financial services provider, we have a responsibility to lead the way in the fight against climate change. In doing our part to help achieve this, we have put sustainability at the heart of our strategy at AIB.
Every day we are working hard to support our customers in their transition to a low carbon future, with green lending options available to mortgage borrowers and personal customers, large corporates and SMEs. Our ambition is that green and transition lending should account for 70% of overall new lending by 2030 as we aim to play a significant role in helping the Government and European Union meet their carbon reduction targets. 

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.

TAXATION
Taxation News

Taxation News

VAT treatment of the Special Flat-rate scheme for Farmers
A new Tax and Duty Manual (TDM) has been published to provide guidance with regard to the VAT treatment of the Special Flat-rate scheme for Farmers.

In addition, TDM Farmers and intra EU Transactions has been marked as no longer relevant.

Source: www.revenue.ie

Movement of excisable products manual updated
Following on from amendments to the Finance Act 2003 made under section 43 of the Finance Act 2021 including the introduction of the Certification System for Small Alcohol Producers by section 78B of the 2003 Act and changes to sections 77(c) and 77(d) of that Act regarding Denatured Alcohol the following Tax and Duty Manuals have been updated.

  • 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

Taxation
Employee vs Self Employed by Mairéad Hennessy

Employee vs Self Employed 

by Mairéad Hennessy

There has been much activity regarding the employment status of individuals in recent years. The area continues to be a target for Revenue scrutiny and there have been cases before the Tax Appeal Commission (TAC) and the Irish courts in recent years. 

The implications for businesses are stark. From a practical perspective, businesses need to be aware that if Revenue find that an individual is an employee rather than a self-employed contractor, then the business engaging the individual will be held liable to account for any shortfall of PAYE, PRSI and USC due. 

A laptop by a window and a green, flourishing plant

Dominos Pizza Case

In December 2019, the Irish High Court delivered it verdict on the employment status in the “gig economy” in the Dominos Pizza case (Karshan (Midlands) Limited (t/a Dominos Pizza) v Revenue Commissioners [2019] IEHC 894).

TAXATION
Cryptocurrency & Common Tax Issues by Robert Halley

Cryptocurrency & Common Tax Issues

by Robert Halley

The whirlwind growth in cryptocurrency assets in the past couple of years means that if you haven’t already had clients enquiring to you about associated tax issues, that day isn’t far off. Indeed, such is the simplified nature of trading and initial exponential growth that created a hype around these, it is likely that there will be many amateur investors out there who would not have traditionally been within the self-assessment system, and who may come to you now for advice as personal tax season approaches. The aim of this article is to tease out the variety of considerations across different tax heads, while bearing in mind this is a volatile and ever-changing market sector.

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.

IN PRACTICE
In Practice News
In Practice News
Leading Financial Market Participants Call for Stronger Alignment of Regulatory & Standard Setting Efforts around Sustainability Disclosure
The global accountancy profession is on a journey—along with investors, companies, regulators and other stakeholders—toward a unified, coherent, global and authoritative standard-setting process for reporting on sustainability information.

IFAC welcomes the establishment of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), as well as jurisdiction or regional initiatives that can contribute toward the creation of a global system for consistent, reliable and assurable sustainability disclosure. 

FRC publishes latest audit quality review results
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published its annual inspection and supervision results of the largest audit firms (BDO, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG, Mazars and PwC). Overall, 75% of audits inspected were good or required limited improvement (compared to 71% in 2021 and 67% in 2020).

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

IN PRACTICE
New Guidance on Professional Judgement for Auditors by Emer Kelly
New Guidance on Professional Judgement for Auditors
by Emer Kelly
In June 2022 the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) issued the publication “Professional Judgement Guidance”. This guidance for auditors seeks to provide a framework for the auditing profession to improve how they exercise professional judgement. The guidance is the first of its kind and will no doubt become an essential tool for auditors when faced with challenging decisions during an audit.
The guidance was developed with a working group of audit practitioners, independent experts, and colleagues from FRC Enforcement and Supervision. The FRC has identified poor professional judgement as one of the most significant issues affecting audit quality. It is anticipated that use of the guidance by the profession will enhance audit quality by improving the consistency and quality of professional judgement.

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

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Building a Coaching Culture in the Workplace by Edel Walsh

Building a Coaching Culture in the Workplace

by Edel Walsh

Coaching embodies the idea that with the support of a coach every individual can achieve their full potential. Not only will coaching benefit the individual personally but it can also benefit their workplace.

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. 

Personal Development
The Collaborative Accountant by Ben Rawal

The Collaborative Accountant

by Ben Rawal

As an accountant, we rely on our individual skills and training to be effective in our role. After all, becoming a qualified accountant relies on strong levels of resilience, dedication and at times, compromise. But how can becoming more effective in a team environment make you a better accountant? Ben Rawal explores the importance and value of developing your collaboration skills.

Time to collaborate?

Arguably one of the most overused phrases in recent times, ‘collaboration’ or ‘working collaboratively’ is now used on a daily basis. Frequently confused as a phrase that equates to good teamwork, collaboration goes beyond these skills into aspects of relationship building, trust and vulnerability.

Most commonly used in an environment that requires the successful interaction of at least two teams, collaboration has become increasingly important during the past 15-20 years. As a concept, it now has the potential to expand into other team-based areas, including accountancy and finance.

IT
5 Major Cyber Security Threats You Need to Watch Out For by Paul Delahunty
5 Major Cyber Security Threats
You Need to Watch Out For
by Paul Delahunty
When you start a conversation with someone about Information Security, it will almost immediately turn towards phishing, hackers, data protection/the GDPR and other commonly known threats. Ransomware in particular is usually one of the first threats people mention.
While these are certainly important and need to be addressed, there are many other threats that people and companies often overlook.
1. The Internet of Things
We have all heard of the Internet of Things (IoT). Basically, it is a nice way of describing how all devices and “things” can connect together. It is an internet of devices, software, sensors, and other ‘things’ which enable the world, and the devices in it, to be connected. It is an incredibly powerful concept, and over the last few years, it has left the realm of science fiction and entered normal, everyday life. After all, even if you don’t have an Alexa yourself, I’ll bet someone you know does!

INSTITUTE
Institute News

Institute News

Sustainability hub icon

New: CPA Ireland Sustainability Hub Coming Soon

In keeping with our aim of Leading the Way in Digitalisation, Well-Being & Sustainability and following the success of our Digitalisation Hub and Well-being Platform, we are excited to announce that in October 2022, we will be launching our bespoke Sustainability Hub. The hub will be officially launched at an Online Sustainability Event on 20 October featuring sustainability experts from Sustainable Finance Ireland, AIB, TUD and Pragmatica as well as SME sustainability strategy expert, Pat Kane.

In addition, Andrew Tobin from Stryve will take us through his experience with creating a carbon neutral business.

This event can be booked at https://portal.cpaireland.ie/Showcourses.aspx?id=22487.

Key developments in sustainability standards for non-financial reporting will be monitored by CPA Ireland with detailed information on when and how that reporting will impact your business and clients. The hub will cover all areas of importance to Irish businesses including Audit, Financial Reporting, Strategy, ESG Reporting, Sustainable Lending, Carbon Footprint reduction, Employee Health & Wellbeing as well as offering live sessions with key industry experts’ in sustainability and case studies of those who have managed a sustainable journey.

Further details on this exciting development will be communicated over the coming months.

Winning the War on Trainee Talent

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

CPD
CPD News

CPD News

Women in Business – “Celebrating Women”

We are looking forward to bringing you the Women in Business events in December.

The Women in Business 2022 events are taking place in Cork on 7th December and in Dublin on 15th December.

As usual we will hear from top class speakers and enjoy some canapes and wine whilst we network.

Key event details:

Dates & Locations:

7th December
Hayfield Manor, Cork

15th December
CPA Ireland offices,
17 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2

Time: 5pm – 8pm (registration will start from 4.30pm)

CPD Credit: 3 hours

Cost: €50 for CPA members

End of CPD Cycle

As we are fast approaching the final quarter of 2022, we would like to remind our members that this is the final year of the 3-year CPD Cycle. This means that you must complete all of your CPD hours by 31 December 2022.

Requirements

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

Student
Student News
Student News
Examination Notice
August 2022 Examinations

The results of the August 2022 examinations, which were hosted on our Cirrus online examination platform and remotely invigilated using Proctorio Artificial Intelligence technology will be available online on Friday 14 October 2022, six weeks after the final examination.

The results can be accessed by logging into their ‘MyCPA’ Dashboard.

Good luck to all students who sat examinations in August and are awaiting results.

Application to Membership Notice
The CPA Ireland annual Conferring Ceremony will be held on Saturday 3 December 2022 in O’Reilly Hall, UCD.

Thanks to all students who have applied for membership as part of “Cohort 1”. This group included students who passed their final examinations from 2019 up to and including April 2022. Congratulations to those applicants who have been accepted for membership.

Students who complete their examinations in August 2022 will be included in Cohort 2 and will receive formal invitations to apply for membership following the release of the August 2022 examination results.

Students in Cohort 2 are reminded of the following deadlines:

  • 7 October – all outstanding training records to be submitted (this does not apply for those students who have already been confirmed as “Training Complete”
  • 4 November – full application for membership

Due to the short timelines between publication of exam results and the deadline for applications we strongly encourage all students to gather, as soon as possible, the relevant information so as to be able to submit their application documentation on time.

The following documents, if not previously submitted to the Institute, should be submitted with each application to membership.

INFORMATION
Information & Disclaimer & Student NewsPublication Notices
Information & Disclaimer

Accountancy Plus is the official journal of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland.

It acts as a primary means of communication between the Institute and its Members, Student Members and Affiliates and a copy is sent automatically as part of their annual subscription. Accountancy Plus is published on a quarterly basis.

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland, CPA Ireland is one of the main Irish accountancy bodies, with in excess of 5,000 members and students. The CPA designation is the most commonly used designation worldwide for professional accountants and the Institute’s qualification enjoys wide international recognition.

The Institute’s membership operates in public practice, industry, financial services and the public sector and CPAs work in over 40 countries around the world.

The Institute is active in the profession at national and international level, participating in the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies – Ireland – CCAB (I) and together with other leading accountancy bodies, the Institute was a founding member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) – the worldwide body. The Institute is also a member of Accountancy Europe, the representative body for the main accountancy bodies The Institute’s Offices are at 17 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, D02 W963 and at Unit 3, The Old Gasworks, Kilmorey Street, Newry, BT34 2DH.

The views expressed in items published in Accountancy Plus are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Institute, its Council or Editor. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining to act as a result of material contained in this publication can be accepted by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland.

The information contained in this magazine is to be used as a guide. For further information you should speak to your CPA professional advisor. Neither the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland or contributors can be held liable for any error, or for the consequences of any action, or lack of action arising from this magazine.

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