In Ireland, a company is deemed to be audit exempt if it fulfills all the criteria set out below in both the current and previous year;

* The company must be a Private Limited Company;
* The amount of turnover of the company must not exceed €7.3 million;
* The total assets of the company are less than €3.65 million at the end of its financial year;
* The average number of employees must not exceed 50;
* The company must not be a parent company or a subsidiary company;
* The company must not come within one of 19 classes of companies listed in the Second Schedule to the 1999 Act; (Generally banks and companies that are under the control of the Financial Regulator)
* The company’s annual return must not be late in either the current or the previous year;

Late Annual Returns

The condition which generally causes the most trouble is where a company is late filing of it’s annual return. This will result in the company loosing its audit exemption status for the current year and also for the next year. The CRO are very strict in this regard as they are unable to waive the exemption as a matter of law. There are also late filing fees of €100 and €3 per day for every day the return remains outstanding.

Ways to help you avoid loosing your company’s audit exemption status
1) Ensure that the company’s Annual Return Date is the maximum 9 months after the company’s year end.
2) Try to get the accounts of the company prepared as early as possible to avoid unnecessary delays.
3) Filing your annual return online gives an additional 28 days to file the company’s accounts.

Loss of audit exemption can prove to be expensive as a significant amount of additional time will be required to complete the accounts of an audited company as opposed to an audit exempt company.

If you wish to discuss any of the above do get in touch with us at info@irishaccounts.ie