Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance refers to the rules, policies, and procedures by which corporations are directed and controlled.  It is an exercise in balancing the interests of all company stakeholders, including shareholders, directors, management, suppliers, customers, lenders, the government and the wider community.

Several key pieces of legislation underpin Corporate Governance in Ireland, including, but not limited to:

• The Companies Act 2014: Coming into force in 2015, the Companies Act was the largest piece of substantive statute law in Irish history.  It completely modernised company law and has been amended several times.  The most significant amendment is the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 which came into force on 9 June 2017.  The main purpose of the Accounting Act was to transpose EU Accounting Directive 2013/34/EU into Irish law.

• Market Abuse Regulation 2014: The Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 introduced stringent rules concerning insider lists and insider information. 

• Beneficial Ownership Regulations 2016: The European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2016. This act requires most companies to collate and maintain information on their main beneficial owner.

• EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive 2017: The European Union (Disclosure of Non-Financial and Diversity Information by certain large undertakings and groups) Regulations 2017 transposed the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive (2014/95/EU) into Irish law, introducing mandatory sustainability reporting for large companies using a “comply or explain” model.