Pearse Doherty
Question:440. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the role and objectives of the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority. [34252/13]
View answerTuesday, 16 July 2013
Questions (440)
Written answers
The Irish Auditing & Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA) was established under the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act, 2003 (the Act) and conferred with the majority of its functions in February 2006 when the Act was commenced. Its role is to support and enhance public confidence in the accountancy profession and financial reporting through the exercise of effective, independent oversight and the promotion of adherence to high standards.
Pursuant to the 2003 Act and the Transparency (Directive 2004/109/EC) Regulations 2007 IAASA has four primary objectives:
- supervision of how the Prescribed Accountancy Bodies regulate and monitor their members
- monitoring of the periodic financial reporting of certain entities whose securities have been admitted to trading on a regulated market in the EU
- promotion of adherence to high professional standards in the auditing and accountancy profession
- acting as a specialist source of advice to the Minister on auditing and accounting matters.
In general, the system for the regulation and supervision of the accountancy and auditing profession in Ireland is one of regulation by the profession under independent supervision by a statutory authority. Under this system, the prescribed accountancy bodies are responsible for regulating their members.
A prescribed accountancy body is one that comes under the supervisory remit of IAASA and there are nine prescribed bodies in Ireland as follows: ACCA - Association of Chartered Certified Accountants; AIA - Association of International Accountants; CIMA - Chartered Institute of Management Accountants; CIPFA - Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy; ICAEW - Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales; ICAI - Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland; ICAS - Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland; ICPAI - Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland; IIPA - Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants.
The role of IAASA is to supervise the manner in which the accountancy bodies perform their regulatory functions and, if necessary, take appropriate action to ensure that the accountancy bodies are fully adhering to their own approved regulations and procedures.