Company watchdog reports surge in reports of offences

THE number of suspected indictable offences being reported to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement by company auditors is running at 80 per month and could reach the 1,000 mark for the first time this year.

The Companies Report for 2002, released yesterday by the Department of Enterprise, reveals that auditors of companies reported a total of 395 suspected offences last year to the ODCE. In addition, liquidators of insolvent companies alerted 293 cases to the office.

In the report ODCE director Paul Appleby points to the large increase in reports already this year, an rise he ascribes to greater awareness of the provisions of the act under which his office was set up in 2001. The Company Law Enforcement Act imposed new obligations on auditors of companies to report suspected offences and obliged liquidators to report on the conduct of the directors of an insolvent company.