Can I file the consolidated accounts only with CRO?

aprilgirl80

Hi I have a group of companies (4 entities) which consolidate into one entity - all Irish companies. Can I file the consolidated accounts for all entities with the CRO, as opposed to filing the individual accounts for each separate entity - is this allowed?
Thanks

Buttercake

You have 4 companies, do you not have 1 accountant?

dbran

Aprilgirl

What are you doing??... You need an auditor to sign off group accounts.

Go get an auditor before you waste any more time.

Regards

dbran

dbran

Consolidated accounts can be filed instead of the individual ones in the CRO. But the holding company has to put in place a guarantee over all of the liabilities of the subsidiaries that arise from then on. This is clearly not ideal.

HcksawJimDuggan

Hi,

Have a seperate query on consolidated accounts which hopefully someone can help with.

Do you need to inform/apply to the cro for the exemption to file group financial statements if the following criteria are met:
(a) the balance sheet total of the parent undertaking and its subsidiary undertakings together do not exceed €7,618,428
(b) the amount of the turnover of the parent undertaking and its subsidiary undertakings together does not exceed €15,236,857 and
(c) the average number of persons employed by the parent undertaking and its subsidiary undertakings together does not exceed 250

Or is it a case that you don't need to inform the cro and just individually file the sets of accounts for each of the companies (which form part of the group)?

pedroeibar1

Your question(s?) is not very clear from your post; if I’m reading it correctly, you have a group of linked companies and want to know the company law and filing requirements?

In addition to preparing its own accounts, a parent co is required to prepare consolidated group accounts and to lay them before the AGM at the same time as its own annual accounts. However, a parent is exempt from filing group a/cs if two of the following are met:-
Balance sheet total of all is less than €7,618,428
Turnover of all is less than €15,236,857
Average total number of employees is less than 250.

Nevertheless, if you decide that you do not want to file individual accounts (e.g. reasons of commercial secrecy, hide profitability/losses/transfer pricing, etc.) for each of the group subsidiary companies, you can simply file the consolidated Group figures BUT the following documents must be filed with each subsidiary company’s annual return, [pursuant to section 17(1)(d) of the 1986 Act]:
1. Notice stating that the company has availed of the exemption under section 17 (section 17(1)(d)).
2. A copy of an irrevocable guarantee by the parent undertaking of the liabilities of the subsidiary company’s annual return, pursuant to section 17(1)(b)of the 1986 Act.
3. Notification by the company to the shareholders of the guarantee pursuant to section 17(1)(b).
4. A declaration by the subsidiary that all the shareholders have declared their consent to the exemption, this declaration to be signed by the secretary or a director (section 17(1)(a) requires the consent of all the shareholders.
5. Consolidated accounts of the parent undertaking (the exemption of the subsidiary should be disclosed in a note to the Accounts) drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the European Communities (Companies: Group Accounts) Regulations 1992 and duly audited must be attached to the subsidiary undertakings annual return (section 17(1)(f)).

Hence the Section 17 name. A downside of Section 17 is that many foreign suppliers do not understand / are unfamiliar with the process and it can lead to supplier credit line issues (“Why are your accounts not available”) so it is a good idea to pre-empt this, explain the process and tell them that you are filing only at group level and that a parent company irrevocable guarantee is in place for each of the subsidiaries. That usually does the trick!

HcksawJimDuggan

Apologies if my previous post was unclear.

Might be easier if I use an example.

Company A owns 100% of company B and when combined the group meets the criteria for exemption from filing group accounts. Company A's & Company B's individual accounts are filed seperately with the cro. Do I need to inform the cro that I am claiming the exemption for filing the group consolidated accounts?

dbran

Hi

No. But there should be a note in the holding company's accounts that they are availing of the exemption and the grounds ie it is availing of the exemption available for small groups to prepare consolidated accounts.

Regards

dbran

gabbytheking

If its a group regardless of Turnover, Balance sheet totals or employee numbers it MUST be audited or will not be accepted by the CRO. "The company must not be a parent company or a subsidiary company;" See Link [URL=]http://www.cro.ie/ena/annual-return-audit-exemption.aspx[/URL]

New group audit exemptions are coming out but there probably 2 years away in the new Consolidate Companies Act whenever it gets through the Oireachtas.

pedroeibar1

dbran wrote: »

Hi

No. But there should be a note in the holding company's accounts that they are availing of the exemption and the grounds ie it is availing of the exemption available for small groups to prepare consolidated accounts.

Regards

dbran

Hacksaw is filing Co & Co B individually, so if there is a need to mention anything about not filing consolidated accounts, his parent co's accounts should mention "it is availing of the exemption available for small groups NOT to prepare consolidated accounts."

edit - group audit exemptions have not been mentioned, so are OT.

dbran

Thank you for correcting my post.

The requirement to disclose as a note in the accounts of the parent company that it is availing of the exemption available for small groups NOT to prepare consolidated accounts is given in FRS 2 Par 22. It should also state that these accounts are therefore the accounts of the individual holding company and not those of the group.

That is of course if you are preparing accounts using Irish GAAP. This may change when FRS 101 and FRS 102 come into being next year.

dbran

gabbytheking

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

edit - group audit exemptions have not been mentioned, so are OT.

Judging by this and other posts it appears April is preparing the accounts herself and may not be fully aware of all the regulations such as the requirement for group accounts to be audited. For instance if she had an auditor why wouldn't she have asked the auditor the above question? What auditor wouldn't have just gave a quick answer or sent her to the CRO look this up for free: http://www.cro.ie/ena/annual-return-group.aspx

Under the line "Filing a batch of annual returns with the same set of consolidated accounts" would be her perfect answer! I think judging from a few posts no small detail however evident should be ignored!

Peterdalkey

pity this thread never made it over to all the students/others on the accounting forum. but hey it is every bit as riveting and relevant to SMEs as the Bitcoin twaddle!