Advisory

Advisory

Advisory includes roles within the legal, audit and consulting services.

Legal Services

Irish domiciled funds generally appoint an Irish based law firm to act as counsel to the fund to carry out initial fund set-up and launch activities. Law services include:

• coordinating discussions with local regulatory authorities, in particular with the Central Bank

• preparing the required fund manager application for delivery to the Central Bank

• submitting the fund "KFD" (key facts documents) to enable the Central Bank to raise any initial questions

• drafting required fund documentation, including constitutional documents, prospectus and service agreement

• negotiating legal agreements with fund service providers

• submitting the application for authorisation of the fund to the Central Bank, including draft fund documentation and material contracts

• coordinating the launch of the fund, including working with the fund's Irish stockbroker for any required listing on the Irish Stock Exchange

Audit Services

If your fund is Irish-domiciled, you are required to submit audited financial statements to the Central Bank within 4 months of the end of the financial year. An auditor's signature on the annual financial statements of investment funds is a regulatory requirement. What is not a regulatory requirement - but part of every audit - is the business intelligence that the accounting firms bring as part of the audit process.

Auditors can give advice on how to address challenges and opportunities identified through the audit process. Irish funds are served by all of the major international accounting and auditing firms. These firms have invested heavily in resources and technology to expedite quality auditing in a specialised area and use their global networks to ensure that the Irish funds industry keeps pace with all international trends and developments.

The audit and accounting firms help their investment fund clients to solve complex business problems by providing assurance and risk solutions that reasonably enhance their ability to build value and improve performance. As well as providing audit services, the accounting firms involved in servicing the funds industry in Ireland provide advice on product design and structuring and on distribution methodologies and strategies along with other specific advices and general consulting assistance.

Consulting Services

Consulting services are deployed to support delivery and change across all business challenges. Consultants help transform businesses from strategic development to implementation. Be it regulatory change, devising strategic plans, implementing system integrations, adapting to new digital technologies, consulting firms provide insights and practical solutions.

Consultants need to understand the financial services landscape and the processes and systems at the core of the operations. Working closely with clients to understand the challenges they face and how they need to adapt to the future. Consulting services incorporates financial service experience, technology, strategists, agility, and governance in order to deliver, test and scale at pace.