Companies Act 2014

322

Disclosure of remuneration for audit, audit-related and non-audit work

322. (1) In this section—

“group auditor” means the statutory auditor carrying out the audit of group financial statements;

“remuneration” includes benefits in kind, reimbursement of expenses and other payments in cash.

(2) Subject to subsection (5), a company shall disclose in the notes to its entity financial statements relating to each financial year the following information:

(a) the remuneration for all work in each category specified in subsection (3) that was carried out—

(i) for the company,

(ii) in respect of that financial year,

by the statutory auditors of the company;

(b) the remuneration for all work in each category specified in subsection (3) that was carried out—

(i) for the company,

(ii) in respect of the preceding financial year,

by the statutory auditors of the company;

(c) where all or part of the remuneration referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) is in the form of a benefit in kind, the nature and estimated monetary value of the benefit.

(3) Remuneration shall be disclosed under subsection (2) for each of the following categories of work:

(a) the audit of entity financial statements;

(b) other assurance services;

(c) tax advisory services;

(d) other non-audit services.

(4) Where the statutory auditors of a company are a statutory audit firm (within the meaning of F209[Part 27]), any work carried out by a partner in the firm or a statutory auditor on its behalf is considered for the purposes of this section to have been carried out by the audit firm.

(5) A company need not make the disclosure required by subsection (2) where—

F210[(a) the company qualifies for the small companies regime or the micro companies regime, or]

F211[(b) the company qualifies as a medium company in accordance with section 280F or 280G, or]

(c) the company is a subsidiary undertaking, the holding company of which is required to prepare and does prepare group financial statements, provided that—

(i) the subsidiary undertaking is included in the group financial statements, and

(ii) the information specified in subsection (8) is disclosed in the notes to the group financial statements.

(6) Where a company that F212[qualifies as a medium company in accordance with section 280F or 280G] does not make the disclosure of information required by subsection (2) it shall provide such information to the Supervisory Authority when requested so to do.

(7) A holding company that prepares group financial statements shall disclose in the notes to those statements relating to each financial year the following information:

(a) the remuneration for all work in each category specified in subsection (8) that was carried out in respect of that financial year by the group auditor for the holding company and the subsidiary undertakings included in the consolidation;

(b) the remuneration for all work in each category specified in subsection (8) that was carried out in respect of the preceding financial year by the group auditor for the holding company and those undertakings;

(c) where all or part of the remuneration referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) is in the form of a benefit in kind, the nature and estimated monetary value of the benefit.

(8) Remuneration shall be disclosed under subsection (7) for each of the following categories of work:

(a) the audit of the group financial statements;

(b) other assurance services;

(c) tax advisory services;

(d) other non-audit services.

(9) Where more than one statutory auditor (whether a statutory auditor or a statutory audit firm) has been appointed as the statutory auditors of a company in a single financial year, separate disclosure in respect of the remuneration of each of them shall be provided in the notes to the company’s entity financial statements.

Annotations

Amendments:

F209

Substituted (21.09.2018) by Companies (Statutory Audits) Act 2018 (22/2018), s. 6, S.I. No. 366 of 2018.

F210

Substituted (9.06.2017) by Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 (9/2017), s. 38(a)(i), S.I. No. 246 of 2017, art. 3, subject to transitional provision in art. 4.

F211

Substituted (9.06.2017) by Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 (9/2017), s. 38(a)(ii), S.I. No. 246 of 2017, art. 3, subject to transitional provision in art. 4.

F212

Substituted (9.06.2017) by Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 (9/2017), s. 38(b), S.I. No. 246 of 2017, art. 3, subject to transitional provision in art. 4.

Editorial Notes:

E81

Previous affecting provision: subs. (4) amended (17.06.2016) by European Union (Statutory Audits) (Directive 2006/43/EC, as amended by Directive 2014/56/EU, and Regulation (EU) No 537/2014) Regulations 2016 (S.I. No. 312 of 2016), reg. 8, in effect as per regs. 1(2), 3 and subject to transitional provision in reg. 143; further amended as per F-note above.