Consultation on Member State Options under Audit Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 and Audit Directive 2014/56/EU

14th October 2014 | Closed Consultations

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is seeking the views of interested parties on: the use of Member State options under Regulation (EU) No 537/2014; the use of Member State options under Directive 2014/56/EU; cost/benefits of the options or any other provision of the Regulation/Directive; difficulties of legal interpretation; practical operability issues; and any other aspect of the Regulation/Directive that you may wish to raise.

In the wake of the international financial crisis the European Commission brought forward proposals for an Audit Regulation and a Directive in December 2011 with the general aim of

strengthening the independence of auditors
introducing greater diversity into the audit market
creating a Single Market for statutory audit services allowing auditors to exercise their profession freely and easily across Europe, once approved in one Member State
introducing a strengthened and more coordinated approach to the supervision of auditors in the EU.

The Audit Regulation is directed at Public-Interest Entities (PIEs), entities which are of significant public interest because of their business, their size, their number of employees or their corporate status is such that they have a wide range of stakeholders. The category of PIE encompasses systemically important entities such as credit institutions and insurance undertakings many of which featured in the financial crisis. Listed companies are also classifiable as PIEs.

The Audit Directive is aimed at improving audit quality and includes measures to strengthen the independence of statutory auditors, make the audit report more informative, and strenghten audit supervision throughout the EU. It contains amendments to augment the provisions of the Statutory Audit Directive (2006/43/EC) which was transposed into Irish law by S.I. No. 220 of 2010.

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is seeking the views of interested parties on -

the use of Member State options under Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities and repealing Commission Decision 2005/909/EC,
the use of Member State options under Directive 2014/56/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Directive 2006/43/EC on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts,
cost/benefits of the options or any other provision of the Regulation/Directive,
difficulties of legal interpretation
practical operability issues, and
any other aspect of the Regulation/Directive that you may wish to raise.