Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 9 July 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority: Engagement with Chairperson
2:00 am
Ms Aisling Kennedy:
The Deputy makes a very important point. Mr. Prendergast mentioned the 500-odd public interest entities we have here in Ireland, which is in many ways disproportionate to the size of the country and reflects the fact that we have an international financial services industry here. That places a burden on IAASA, which, as we mentioned, has a relatively small team.
Regarding the future of regulation, we implement policy; we do not make policy. Obviously, we welcome the opportunity to contribute to policy development. As to implementing and the future of implementing audit regulation as we find it, this is why I placed such priority in my opening remarks on continuing to build organisational capability within IAASA. I think we can continue to expect an evolving regulatory environment. We may be in a period at the moment where there is a bit of a pullback in the context of prioritising competitiveness but that is a pendulum that may swing again. Even in the absence of policy change or without regulatory change, we have talked about the changing use of data analytics, of artificial intelligence, of the changing shape of the global economy and international trade, all of those things will bring change in financial reporting, sustainability reporting and then consequently in statutory audit and the supervision we provide. What is really vital for IAASA is that we stay ahead of that curve and maintain a culture of openness, learning and expertise.