You are probably in the middle of planning or performing the audits on your client companies. Have your clients ever asked you is there any way they can keep their accounts from being published or did their accounts come under the scrutiny of journalists last year?

In the age of instant access to information the financial statements can provide interested parties with valuable financial information on your clients. Companies and Directors have a mechanism to avoid the requirement to file financial statements at the Companies Registration Office. By converting the company to Unlimited, they may obtain the exemption from filing accounts. The downside to this is the loss of Limited Liability.

However, if the company is structured in a certain way using offshore companies, the shareholders of the company can maintain limited liability whilst obtaining the exemption from filing accounts.

You may only have a few clients that this type of structure might suit, some of these may include:-

• High profile clients
• Clients in a competitive industry
• Suppliers into the large retail stores
• Companies showing a profit or losses
• Companies that have let go staff
• Clients that are privacy conscious
• The Auditor who does not want their accounts reviewed publicly

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]