The group set up by the Government to enforce compliance in the corporate sector says its workload quadrupled last year.
The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, in its annual report published today, predicts it will double the number of criminal convictions this year.
The ODCE was established over two years ago in response to a series of corporate scandals.
In the ODCE's annual report for 2003, Director Paul Appleby warned that this year he aimed not only to increase enforcement activity but to 'prosecute a number of company offences for which convictions have never been secured in the past'.
The report shows a 50% increase in complaints from the public about misconduct and a 10-fold increase in auditors' notification of loans to directors from their companies that exceeded legal limits.
In five cases, the excessive loans were for over €1m, while in some cases the loans exceeded the assets of the companies involved.
Mr Appleby predicted that he would double the number of criminal convictions this year.
The report comes as AIB is involved in a series of crises involving foreign exchange over-charging and misconduct allegations surrounding 10 serving and former executives.
