The world’s largest accounting firms were yesterday cleared of blame for their audits of banks here as the country hurtled toward financial disaster in 2008.

A major report has cleared the external audit firms of any substantial failings in the audits carried out of the banks here on the eve of the financial crash in 2008.

Tesco’s book-keeping scandal has prompted Britain’s accounting policeman to turn a spotlight on annual reports in the retail sector to check for similar irregularities.

Accountant Alan Hynes is being pursued for more than €7.6m judgment orders at the Commercial Court.

Senior Central Bank executives have held private meetings with some of the top accountancy firms in the State to demand an improvement in auditing standards of financial institutions, the Irish Examiner has learned.

ACCOUNTANCY firm Ernst & Young has lost its High Court bid to halt the investigation into its conduct as auditors to Anglo Irish Bank when dealing with alleged inappropriate loans to directors of the bank.

PUBLIC disciplinary tribunals into three bankers linked to Anglo Irish Bank have been adjourned over concerns they could prejudice any future criminal proceedings.

More than 8,500 pages of documents on scandal-hit Anglo Irish Bank have been handed over to State prosecutors by the country’s corporate watchdog.

A public disciplinary tribunal into former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick has been adjourned amid fears that it could prejudice criminal proceedings against the banker.

A SURPRISE move by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to halt a public interrogation of former Anglo Irish Bank boss Sean FitzPatrick intensifies speculation that he faces criminal prosecution.

THE failed Anglo Irish Bank has claimed its former chief executive David Drumm knew for at least two years that the then chairman Sean FitzPatrick, has been hiding up to €100 million of borrowings from shareholders in an Irish Nationwide account.

Bankers Sean FitzPatrick and David Drumm are to be hauled before an accountancy watchdog tribunal, it was revealed today.

IT’S not on the air yet. It’s not shot yet. There’s no pilot yet. There might not even be a script yet.

IT’S not on the air yet. It’s not shot yet. There’s no pilot yet. There might not even be a script yet.

CHRISTY Kearney’s article (May 10) on the role of audit in the banking crisis contains a number of significant omissions.

POLITICAL and other spin doctors know how to manage a crisis. The critical factor is to hang on. They believe virtually all news media cycles are “nine-day wonders”.

SEAN FitzPatrick’s Anglo Irish Bank loans are to be investigated by the man who was previously responsible for highlighting the abuse of taxpayer’s money.

A SPECIAL examiner is expected to be appointed “within the next two weeks” by the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board (CARB) to oversee the body’s planned investigation into the role played by leading accountancy firm Ernst & Young in the directors’ loans controversy at Anglo Irish Bank.

THE Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board is to examine the issue of directors’ loans in the wake of the €87 million in loans built up by former chairman Sean FitzPatrick.

A CORK accountant has been fined €10,000 and ordered to pay costs of a further €10,000 by a disciplinary tribunal of the accountants’ professional body.

The Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board (CARB), the regulator of the 16,000 members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, came into existence yesterday.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) has announced the appointment of Dr Liam O’Reilly as the first Chairman of the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board (CARB).