Irregular accounting used for 3 years

Accounting irregularities at the centre of the RSA scandal that cost three Irish executives their jobs with the insurance company had been in use in RSA’s Dublin office for over three years, the Irish Examiner has learned.

Contrary to RSA Group policy, the booking of large loss claims was done on a discretionary basis in Ireland rather than in the accounting period in which they occurred. This practice was part of wider accounting irregularities that forced the RSA Group to increase reserves by £200m (242m) for RSA Ireland last month.

The Central Bank audited RSA’s Irish operations a number of times in the past three years, but only queried the procedure used to book large loss claims in August because the amount was much larger than normal and was outside the accounting period in which it occurred.