The Companies Act 2014: What You Need to Know
The Ministerial Order (SI 169 of 2015) commencing the Companies Act 2014 is now available in the online version of the Irish Statute Book here.
The Order provides that virtually all the Act comes into force on 1 June 2015. The exceptions are these:
- the repeal of Part V of the Companies Act 1990 – the prohibition of insider dealing on non-regulated markets – is being deferred and therefore this law continues until further notice;
- certain technical provisions relating to mergers of public limited companies are preserved; and
- the repeal of the Bank of Ireland Acts is deferred pending the re-registration of Bank of Ireland as a company under the Act.
In addition, the Order also clarifies that certain accounting-related provisions come into operation on the first day of the next financial year of a company that falls on or after 1 June 2015). Those provisions are:
- section 167 – the requirement to establish an audit committee;
- section 225 – the requirement to prepare a Directors' compliance statement;
- section 305(1)(b) – the disclosure in a company's financial statements of gains made by directors on the exercise of share options;
- section 306(1) – the disclosure in financial statements of the amounts paid to persons connected with a director;
- section 326(1)(a) – the disclosure in a Directors' Report of the names of persons who at any time during the year were directors of the company; and
- section 330 – the statement in a Directors' Report on relevant audit information.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.