The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) has called for a significant increase in the audit exemption threshold to the maximum level allowed under European law, a turnover of €7.3 million.
The ICAI argues that the disparity between the threshold level in Ireland, which is €1.5 million compared to the level for other EU partners raises competitiveness questions for Irish businesses.
President of the ICAI, John Greely, said today that a company based in the State faces a different and more costly audit regime than its counterpart in Northern Ireland.
He said the problem has existed since the UK raised its audit exemption threshold to Stg£5.6 million soon after the Government raised the threshold here to €1.5 million. The situation has been compounded by the introduction of new auditing standards drafted in to deal with the requirements of European and global capital markets.
Mr Greely said that while the Government did raise the threshold from €317,000 to €1.5m in 2003, "changing and different circumstances" mean that the time to act has come again.
In a position paper published today the ICAI has suggested that alternative forms of assurance, short of the statutory audit, be considered for companies that would not face an audit were the threshold raised to the maximum permitted level.