by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Jul 5, 2021 | Blog, News
A recent article by the Independent revealed that a Rathfarnham family home address had been used in the registration of over 100 companies. See the full article here.
The article reports that two tenants resident at the address, had use the owner’s address without his knowledge. This highlights a major weakness in the CRO’s procedures for company set up where the trust placed in the ‘self-declaration’ process has been found wanting.
The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) and An Garda Siochana were contacted by the homeowner.
A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment which oversees the CRO confirmed that the CRO does not verify the identities of directors or secretaries of companies.
This latest development calls into question the serious lack of background verification carried out by the CRO which ensures that the Office never calls into question instances where multiple addresses are listed for the same director, not to mention the increased risk that these businesses could be used for money laundering activity.
A similar problem exists at UK Companies House where a consultation has been carried out called the ‘Corporate transparency and register reform’. Proposals include making companies using the FRS 105/102 accounts frameworks in the UK, declare their turnover, among other recommendations, to help verify that they genuinely qualify for these much reduced disclosure regimes. The results of the consultation have not yet been announced, but similar moves be follow in Ireland.
For more about accountants’ AML compliance obligations, see our AML Policies, Controls & Procedures Manual for 2021.
The Manual contains all the latest requirements relevant to accountants contained in the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010 to 2021 now fully in force. Future blogs will look at various parts of the new and existing provisions of this legislation.
For more blogs please visit this link and for our publications and manuals and services click here.
by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Feb 22, 2021 | Blog, News
Abiding by money laundering regulations is a serious business to say the least. Early last month a money service business (MSB), based in Luton, UK was fined £23.8 million by the UK HMRC (the supervisor for MSBs) for ‘significant breaches’ of AML legislation. There are no rights of appeal.
The offences occurred between July 2017 and December 2019 relating to:
- carrying out risk assessments;
- incorrect policies, controls and procedures;
- conducting due diligence; and
- record keeping.
Money service businesses offer customers the ability to remit cash, exchange currencies and cash cheques quickly and easily without the need to rely on banking facilities. They would be deemed to high risk operations.
A quick examination of the company’s latest accounts to 30 November 2019 shows balance sheet net assets of £154,824 and cash at bank of over £680,000, so the ability to pay this fine is not that obvious.
Watch out for our 2021 update to the AML Policies & Procedures Manual coming soon.
For a complete list of our time-saving engagement letter templates for FRS 102 audit, FRS 102 audit-exempt, VAT, visit our store here. All our engagement and representation letter templates are up to date for Brexit and Covid 19.
by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Aug 10, 2020 | Blog, News
Now is a good time to update your CPD over the summer months before the crazy busy tax season starts. Of course, nowadays there is no such thing as a quiet time, so it is best to plan your CPD time now. Why not set aside time on Friday afternoon this week to do a catch up. All our webinars come with a quiz to test your learning and an automatic CPD certificate is issued once you have viewed the material.
Some of the relevant topics on our website include the following webinars:
Accounting for Impairments
The webinar online video is 52 minutes in length, broken into two parts. It deals with many issues that are topical now under the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Inventories which are treated differently than other impaired assets;
• Impairment trigger points;
• Testing Goodwill for impairment;
• How to recognise an impairment loss;
• Disclosures;
• Small entities – what are the Section 1A disclosures?
FRS 102 The new Regime from 1 January 2019
• FRS 102 – the Triennial Review;
• Directors’ loans – ‘small’ entities, relaxation of some of the amortisation requirements;
• Intangibles in a business combination;
• Investment property rented within a group;may be v
• Classification of certain financial instruments;
• Definition of financial institution;
• Reconciliation of net debt in statement of cash flows; and
For a full list of all our webinar recordings, please got to our webinar site here. They may be viewed at any time for 12 months after the date of purchase.
We also have a complete set of complementary letters of representation, updated for the Coronavirus (COVID-19), and letters of engagement for immediate download here.
by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Jul 7, 2020 | Blog, News
Now is a good time to update your CPD over the summer months before the crazy busy tax season starts. Of course, nowadays there is no such thing as a quiet time, so it is best to plan your CPD time now. Why not set aside time on Friday afternoon this week to do a catch up. All our webinars come with a quiz to test your learning and an automatic CPD certificate is issued once you have viewed the material.
Some of the relevant topics on our website include the following webinars:
Accounting for Impairments
The webinar online video is 52 minutes in length, broken into two parts. It deals with many issues that are topical now under the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Inventories which are treated differently than other impaired assets;
• Impairment trigger points;
• Testing Goodwill for impairment;
• How to recognise an impairment loss;
• Disclosures;
• Small entities – what are the Section 1A disclosures?
FRS 102 The new Regime from 1 January 2019
• FRS 102 – the Triennial Review;
• Directors’ loans – ‘small’ entities, relaxation of some of the amortisation requirements;
• Intangibles in a business combination;
• Investment property rented within a group;may be v
• Classification of certain financial instruments;
• Definition of financial institution;
• Reconciliation of net debt in statement of cash flows; and
For a full list of all our webinar recordings, please got to our webinar site here. They may be viewed at any time for 12 months after the date of purchase.
We also have a complete set of complementary letters of representation, updated for the Coronavirus (COVID-19), and letters of engagement for immediate download here.
by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Feb 27, 2020 | Blog, News
We have just published an update to the AML Policies Controls & Procedures Manual last week, which is available to purchase now on our website. Our latest February 2020 edition includes the following updated items:
- Pronouncement by the FATF arising from their Public Consultation on FATF Draft Guidance on Digital Identity (discussed at the FATF plenary meeting in Paris from 19-21 February 2020)
- The latest developments on the RBO register since June 2019
- Further guidance on carrying out electronic searches and the validity of sourcing electronic data for client identity purposes.
This Manual contains everything you need to successfully implement the requirements of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts, 2010 to 2018 which became law on 26 November 2018 and the Register of Beneficial Ownership which came into effect on 22 June 2019.
This Manual comes with a, free of charge, Excel spreadsheet called the ‘AML Control Sheet’ which firms may use to give a ‘helicopter’ view of progress made with keeping client AML data up to date.
The Manual includes eleven Appendices with templates/guidance on how to implement the legislation efficiently. It retails for only €150+VAT and may be downloaded, ready to use, in Word format.
