On the 3rd of August 2012 Statutory Instrument 304 of 2012 changed the size criteria of a small company. Under the new legislation a company can now be defined as a small company provided the turnover does not exceed €8,800,000 and the balance sheet total does not exceed €4,400,000.
Prior to the enactment of Statutory Instrument 304 a private company qualified to be a small sized company if in that year and the previous financial year it satisfied two of the three conditions:
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- Balance Sheet total not exceeding €1,904,607
- Turnover not exceeding €3,809,214
- Average number of employees not exceeding 50
Now the size criteria are :
- Balance Sheet total not exceeding €4,400,000
- Turnover not exceeding €8,800,000
- Average number of employees not exceeding 50
This change in legislation removes the previous anomaly in Irish Company Law whereby you could potentially have a medium sized audit exempt company. The change in the size criteria for small companies under SI 304 of 2012 also reflects the recent change to the audit exemption size criteria as ammended by SI 308 of 2012.
The big advantage that this change creates for small companies is in relation to the reduced requirement for information in their abridged accounts under the Companies Act 1986. Small company abridged accounts do not need to include directors reports, profit and loss accounts and the notes do not necessarily need to give a true and fair view, substantially reducing the requirements for note disclosures back to the bare statutory note disclosure requirements.
Should you have any questions in relation to this article or should you have any Company Law or Company Secretarial queries please contact John Murphy on 053 910 0000, [email protected]
Download SI No. 304 of 2012 – Company Size Criteria
Article on Changes to the Audit Exemption Limits
Free Download – Availing of the New Audit Exemption Helpsheet including 15 Issues to be Considered by Accountants
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