One of the biggest problems here is the inflexibility of the law in relation to companies "limited by guarantee" filing annual management company accounts with the Companies Registration Office.
This boils down to two issues:
- mandatory imposition of late filing fees on management companies regardless of the circumstances - householders often find themselves collectively paying these fees even though the fault for late filing may rest elsewhere.
- the legal requirement for all companies "limited by guarantee" (including most management companies) to be audited by a registered auditor. Since the adoption of international auditing standards, this type of audit is problematic for auditors (in terms of risks v. expected fee income) and most auditors I know (including myself) don't take on audits of this nature except in rare circumstances. Shareholders of management companies can have genuine problems in sourcing an auditor willing to take on the work, especially if the case is already in arrears, and may have to pay large fees to get the work done.
These twin issues cause numerous management companies to fall into a sort of catch-22 situation, where householders' legal position can only be protected by spending significant sums in State penalties and professional fees, both of which in turn will snowball to unacceptable levels, except in the unlikely prospect that all householders co-operate fully in the process.
I think the law in this area needs to be simplified. It should be perfectly feasible for the CRO to waive late filing fees in certain circumstances for companies limited by guarantee and it should be possible to allow these companies the same entitlements to audit exemption that are enjoyed by private companies - subject to certain conditions if necessary.