The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) has today published its first annual report, which shows that it secured the restriction of 80 company directors and the disqualification of a further 27 company directors in the first 18 months of its existence.
The report also shows that the CEO received over 470 complaints from members of the public, as well as over 300 statutory reports from auditors, examiners, and process advisors.
The CEO also received over 1,000 statutory reports from liquidators in respect of insolvent companies and the behaviour of those companies' directors.
The CEA was established in July 2022 under the Companies Act 2014 and replaced the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).
Its functions include encouraging compliance with the Companies Act 2014, investigating suspected offences, summary prosecution of detected breaches, referring cases to the Director of Public Prosecutions for prosecution, exercising a supervisory role over the activities of liquidators and receivers, and operating a regime of restriction and disqualification undertakings in respect of directors of insolvent companies.
Additional resources were announced for the CEA in Budget 2024, increasing the total budget by about €1.3m, from €9.706m in 2023 to €11.101m.
Since it was established in 2022, the authority also secured 107 court orders and five search warrants, took 213 witness statements, and effected 12 arrests.
It also submitted 12 files to the Director of Public Prosecutions and secured criminal convictions in respect of failing to keep proper books of account and providing false information.
Ian Drennan, the CEA's chief executive Officer, said that during its first 18 months of existence, the advantages of being a standalone agency, and in particular the flexibility that status brings, have been readily apparent.
He noted that the authority secured its own recruitment licence, which allows it to run its own recruitment campaigns, with those competitions being tailored to its needs as a specialist agency.
"While certain of the work that we do is high profile in nature, much of what we do happens behind the scenes. Our work benefits all who have a stake in the effective operation of company law and our impact is, therefore, broad in its effect," Mr Drennan said.
"We seek to empower our stakeholders both through the provision of accurate, impartial, and accessible information, and through our outreach activities," he added.
"Through our graduated and proportionate approach towards indications of less serious non-compliance, we quietly go about ensuring that duties are respected and that rights are vindicated without having to resort to our statutory powers," the CEO said.
"Where necessary, we deploy our statutory powers to bring about compliance with the law, with our options including the initiation of legal proceedings," he explained.
"At the upper end of the spectrum as regards seriousness lies criminal enforcement. In that context, during the period we obtained and executed over 100 court orders for the purposes of compelling the production of documents, executed five search warrants, took over 200 witness statements, and effected 12 arrests," he added.
