THE REGISTRAR of the Companies Registration Office (CRO), Paul Farrell, is retiring after 12 years in the position.
A new appointee is expected to be announced shortly by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Mr Farrell, who was appointed to the position in June 1997, said two aspects of the office had changed substantially in his period as registrar.
In 1998, only 13 per cent of all registered companies were filing accounts and other documentation on time. Last year, that figure had grown to 80 per cent.
“Right now there are fewer than 10 per cent of companies that are out of date, and many of those are companies that are in the process of closing down.”
New penalties for late filing introduced in 2001 have had a major effect on companies’ compliance with the rules.
Also, the office has introduced a structured regime for moving companies onto the strike-off list, something which has also helped compliance as people know “where they stand”.
Mr Farrell said the other huge change over the period was in the use of electronic filing.
More than 60 per cent of all filings are now delivered electronically, and it has been estimated that this saves the companies concerned €20 million a year collectively.
Electronic filing is helping the office cope with the fact that a number of its 130 staff are now on short-time working.
As required by European law, the Companies Registration Office does not make a profit. It generally pays for itself with the fees it receives.
However, the law does not encompass late filing penalties, and last year the office contributed €17.6 million to the exchequer arising from penalty payments.
There has not been a huge change in the number of registered companies in the period when he was registrar, Mr Farrell said.
However, when he first began working in the CRO, in 1983, there was a much smaller number of companies registered. There are currently 182,000 companies on the register.
In 1997 there were 165,000, of which 25,000 have left the register for varying reasons.
Mr Farrell said he is involved in a number of European projects associated with business registration with which he hopes to continue his involvement.
