Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis
Nexus Phase
Mr. Gerry Fitzpatrick:
There are a whole range of levels of expertise in audit teams. So some people will be ... they would all be graduates, they all would've been either qualified accountants or studying for the chartered accounting exams. I guess the processes in an audit are multitudinous so in some cases you're looking at basic process and documentation flow and, therefore, people who ... where we've had set structures of how you map transactions, that can be done by very bright graduates. When it comes to areas of judgment in relation to loan impairment, in relation to pensions calculations, in relations to taxation, then you need much more experienced people. And, clearly, in relation to something like loan impairment, I would've been very much active in that process. At the time there was ... there were three audit partners involved in the audit, including myself, plus an IT audit partner. So I think, yes, the answer is there were people at all levels, but for the more significant areas of judgment and that required a challenge to management particularly reporting to the board, that would have been my role and I would've put a significant amount of time into that.
No comments