Seanad debates
Wednesday, 16 April 2003
Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Second Stage.
My initial reading of section 9 gave me some concern that power was being taken from the Minister and given to recognised accountancy bodies. I recall a situation in the past where a particular body of accountants sought the power to sign off on limited companies' accounts. There was a very strong lobby from the established accountancy groups at the time to prevent this. However, the then Minister intervened and, quite rightly, gave the relevant power because the body in question had the required expertise to do the job. I was concerned that, by removing that power in the Bill, something similar could happen again in future. However, section 11 and the composition of the supervisory authority seem to suggest that that cannot happen.
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