Companies Act 2014 section 916

Supervisory Authority may levy prescribed accountancy bodies

Section 916 sets out the power of the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA) to impose levies on prescribed accountancy bodies to help fund its operations, subject to ministerial approval and a statutory cap.

• IAASA may impose one or more levies each financial year on each prescribed accountancy body, but the total levied on all such bodies must not exceed 60 per cent of its approved annual expenditure programme for that year.
• Before any levy can be imposed, the Minister must approve both the total amount and the criteria for apportioning it among different classes of accountancy bodies, and must formally consent to the levy.
• The Minister must consult with the prescribed accountancy bodies before giving consent, and different classes of body may be required to pay different amounts based on the apportionment criteria established by IAASA.
• IAASA can recover any unpaid levy as a simple contract debt through the courts, and levies on recognised accountancy bodies may be applied towards expenses IAASA incurs in carrying out its supervisory functions.