Irish corporate counsel are having a busy year as the Government moves into overdrive on the regulatory front. The latest object of their attention is the Companies (Auditing and Accounting Bill) 2003, which is currently in review by a Dail Committee. “It is a major issue,” says Bank of Ireland head of legal Finbar Murphy. “It goes seriously beyond Higgs and Sarbanes-Oxley and is the biggest single challenge for in-house legal departments.”
The proposed legislation has led to a flurry of activity on the lobbying front by companies that face the prospect of their directors having to sign off that they have complied with legislation ranging from taxation to competition provisions.
