Watchdog Fines Naas Accountant €10,500 Over SPV Audit

Wednesday, 29 March 2023 15:29

By Caoimhe Harney

The Irish Times Reports, John Kavanagh admitted to the contraventions identified

The Irish accounting watchdog has fined a Naas-based accountant €10,500 and banned him from signing off on statutory audit reports for 12 months for regulatory breaches in relation to the quality controls of the audit of an Irish special purpose funding vehicle (SPV) in 2019.

According to the Irish Times, The Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervision Authority (Iaasa) said that the accountant, John Kavanagh, and the firm he ran, Howlett Kavanagh Chartered Accountants, admitted to the various contraventions identified by the body.

The firm, which was based in Naas, is no longer trading.

“The Authority took into account the timing of the admissions and it considered that it was appropriate to apply an early settlement discount of 30 per cent to the level of the fine imposed,” it said.

This is the fourth monetary penalty Iaasa has imposed on an individual since it assumed direct responsibility in 2016 for inspecting audits of so-called public interest entities (PIE) such as banks, insurers, companies whose shares or debt are listed on a stock exchange.

The case underscores the rigours involved in being a PIE auditor, a market dominated by Big Four accounting firms because of the costs and compliance work entailed.

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