Auditing giant calls for compliance code change

ACCOUNTANCY and auditing giant Grant Thornton has called for a significant tightening of the loopholes in the existing Combined Code on Corporate Governance for publicly quoted Irish companies.

The call comes in the wake of recent high-profile instances of mismanagement, particularly at Anglo Irish Bank.

Currently, full compliance with the code is not enforced by legislation. It is a voluntary code for private companies. But the real bugbear is that while all public companies are obliged to sign up to the code, they can basically “cherry pick” the elements of it to which they wish to adhere.