ESRS simplified
Draft simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) have been published, including a log of amendments and a comparative table.
CSRD compliance
The first round of 20 Irish companies have reported on their sustainability under the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD). This is a complex and extensive exercise, with as many as 1,200 data points.
The Irish Audit and Accounting Supervisory authority (IAASA) has published a review providing commentary on what the regulator considers to be best practice, looking at good and poor reporting; how double materiality was identified; the number of entities making reports under each of the ESRS topical standards; and some of the companies that had entity-specific topics disclosures.
The report identified training, data quality and early engagement as the biggest challenges for the reports, which ranged from 60 to 176 pages in length. IAASA concluded that it ‘had no significant concerns regarding the compliance of sustainability statements with the requirements of the ESRS’.
There are now 42 sustainability assurance service providers in Ireland
There is also a section in the report on sustainability assurance. IAASA noted that there are now 42 sustainability assurance service providers licensed in Ireland to provide sustainability assurance over CSRD reporting, working in 11 different audit practices. IAASA noted that all assurance reports in the first year of CSRD reporting were ‘unqualified’.
A selection of the sustainability reports can be found below:
CRH
Kerry
Glanbia
DCC
Kingspan
Smurfit Westrock
Ryanair
Flutter
AIB Group
Bank of Ireland
Greencore
Voluntary sustainability reporting
Many companies have a commercial imperative to report on their sustainability but do not want to adopt the ESRS standards due to their size and complexity. These companies are increasingly adopting the greatly simplified Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for non-listed SMEs (VSME), issued by EFRAG.
EFRAG has just conducted a survey of VSME use and acceptance by financial institutions, business partners and companies in the value chain. Some of the key takeaways include a growing awareness and use of the standard, with companies reporting improved access to finance and cost optimisation.
Challenges identified include limited training, unclear methodologies and insufficient supporting tools. The respondents to the survey asked for additional guidance, including on specific disclosures and sector-specific topics, as well as awareness-raising initiatives such as examples of completed VSME reports, training sessions and best-practice cases. Read an example VSME report for a credit union, which ACCA was involved in developing.
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
The European Commission issued an update to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) rules. The Environmental Protection Agency has been appointed as the national competent authority in Ireland and CBAM became fully operational in Ireland on 1 January 2026.
Registered charities
The Charities Regulator has a published a new report on the sector, which analyses information provided in annual reports submitted from 2019 to 2023. A sample of 3,262 charities was used, representing 42% of all non-school registered charities; analysis gives insights into charity income, expenditure, employment, volunteering and more over the five-year period.
Accountants are the second most in-demand professionals
In 2023, almost half (48.5%) of the charities reported annual income of less than €250,000, which is the current cut-off limit from Revenue for audit exemption. The total number of employees rose from 140,355 in 2021 to 147,974 in 2023, an increase of 5.4% in five years and representing 5% of the total workforce. Alternative measures that include, for example, social enterprises, would suggest that the percentage of ‘third sector’ employees is about 9%.
Based on the sample used, the estimated total number of volunteers (excluding trustees) is around 215,000. The regulator estimates that the annual value of this voluntary contribution is between €631m (at minimum wage) and over €1.5bn (at average national earnings), assuming a volunteer gives five hours per week to the charity.
Accountants in demand
Research from IrishJobs.ie shows that accountants are now the second most in-demand professionals in Ireland. Demand for accountants has surged by 39% over the past year. Eight in ten of the most in-demand professions in Ireland in 2025 were in construction and related sectors, with nurses occupying tenth place.
ISA revisions
IAASA has revised five International Standards on Auditing (Ireland) to reflect the adoption of the Irish Corporate Governance Code. Entities with an equity listing on Euronext Dublin are required to use the code for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025. The revisions do not introduce new requirements for auditors or remove existing ones; they simply reflect the adoption of the code by Euronext Dublin. The effective date of the revisions is for periods starting on 1 January 2025.
EU Sanctions Helpdesk
Companies having difficulty in determining whether a particular sale or customer is subject to sanctions can get assistance from the EU Sanctions Helpdesk. Companies can also subscribe to the helpdesk newsletter.
AML reporting in the UK
The UK National Crime Agency has issued its SARs Annual Report. Nearly 867,000 suspicious transaction reports were made in that period: one for every 80 people in the UK. Of these, 0.7% or around 6,000 reports were from the accountancy profession. The majority of SARS (85.5%) were from the banking sector, and 10.3% from financial services. Ireland, by comparison, had one report for every 73 people (in a slightly earlier period), with the accounting profession making a considerably smaller number of SARs a year, according to information shared with the Joint Practices Group, a consultation group with the Garda and profession.
An accounting practice having never made a SAR is considered by the ACCA anti-money laundering (AML) compliance team a possible indication of a lack of understanding of the regulations. This may therefore increase a practice’s risk score and, as a result, the frequency of AML monitoring.
