Accountant struck off over clients' €750,000

THE founder of an accountancy firm has been struck off by his professional body for misappropriating around €750,000 of clients' funds.

John Joyce, the sole practitioner of Joyce, Buckley, Crowley, of Grand Parade, Cork, may also face criminal prosecution following an investigation by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) against him.

It found Mr Joyce had:

Misappropriated or misapplied client's monies for his own personal use without their knowledge or consent.

Deliberately falsified accounts to conceal such misappropriation.

Failed to use clients' funds to discharge their tax liabilities which resulted in them having to pay interest and late payment penalties.

An ICAI disciplinary tribunal also ruled that Mr Joyce was in breach of five separate regulations of the profession's governing body.

They included his failure to maintain adequate records, to inform clients of the basis on which fees were charged and to send notices of resignation as auditor of client companies. Mr Joyce also failed to respond to the ICAI's request to provide information and make clients' files available for inspection by the Institute.

The most extreme sanction available to the ICAI was imposed on Mr Joyce following a public hearing of the tribunal on March 25. No witnesses were called as Mr Joyce accepted the charges made against him.

He has repaid a sizeable amount of the money which he had diverted from the accounts of around half a dozen of the practice's large clients.

He is the first accountant to be struck off the professional register in many years. Since January 2003, six other chartered accountants have faced inquiries into allegations relating to clients' accounts, fraud and dishonesty. They all received various reprimands and fines ranging from €1,270 to €10,000.

Mr Joyce may still come under investigation by officers of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.

His firm, which had operated at various times from offices in Grand Parade, Patrick Street and Princes Street, employed five people.

A married man with a family, Mr Joyce, who lives in Belgooly near Kinsale, is a member of a well-established Cork business family.

He now runs a wholesale stationery business in Princes Street but could not be contacted at the premises yesterday afternoon.

Well-known in sporting circles, in particular rugby and yachting, Mr Joyce was a prop with Sunday's Well rugby club in the 1980s.