An increased number of Irish Companies will be able to substantially reduce the amount of financial information which they are currently required to make publically available, following recent changes in Irish Company legislation.

Specifically the qualifying criteria for classification as a “small” company has widened with now an increasing number of companies qualifying for this category.  The main benefit for these companies is that they are not required to include details of their profit and loss accounts in Financial Statements filed with the Companies Registration Office (CRO).

Cathal Melia, Audit Director, from Chartered Accountancy firm Russell Brennan Keane commented “Reducing the amount of information available to the general public and competitors in particular, will be welcome news for many small businesses that can be disadvantaged by being required to disclose commercially sensitive information”.

In accordance with the amended legislation, Company’s which meet two of the three size criteria below can be deemed to be “small” companies. The three revised size criteria are now as follows:

• Balance Sheet total (Gross Assets) not exceeding €4,400,000 (increased from €1.9m)
• Turnover not exceeding €8,800,000 (increased from €3.8m)
• Average number of employees not exceeding 50 (No change)

Should you have any queries on how the above could impact your business or would like to learn more about how your business can reduce the amount of sensitive information it is required to make publically available you should contact Cathal Melia directly at cmelia@rbk.ie.

Cathal Melia
Audit  Director
Russell Brennan Keane
96 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2
e: cmelia@rbk.ie
t: 01 6440100
f: 01 6440190

About Russell Brennan Keane
Russell Brennan Keane is a leading business advisory and accountancy firm. With 50 years experience providing professional advisory services to a range of clients in the mid to large corporate market in Ireland, from offices in Dublin, Athlone and Roscommon.

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