DYLAN BYRNE

OSK

Director OSK

Established in 1985, OSK specialises in advising progressive ownermanaged businesses. Clients include SMEs, multinational groups, government bodies, sole traders and contractors. Dylan Byrne heads up the audit department and he specialises in the audit of regulated companies including financial services and solicitors, as well as pension audits.

ACTIVITY The last 12 months have been challenging for all businesses, including our own firm. Much of our work during this time initially involved advising clients of Covid-19 government supports available, as well as assisting them in revising financial business plans and projections. Thankfully, we invested in our IT infrastructure over the last number of years and have migrated our audit and accounting software systems to the cloud.

REMOTE WORKING The transition to full remote working and delivery of our services for an extended period with little or no client contact required us to adapt our process to introduce additional features, such as client video conferencing, MS Teams and Zoom staff training, software to facilitate electronic signing of documents, etc. Managers and senior staff have coped well with remote working, while junior staff have found it more challenging.

BUSINESS SUPPORTS Many businesses that had accumulated profits and working capital over the last number of years heading into the pandemic have used up a lot of these reserves and may now have increased debt. The issue for struggling businesses is that warehoused Covid-related tax debt or bank debt, albeit at a low rate, will need to be repaid at some stage. Affected viable businesses need more grant supports, not debt, to get back on their feet. For this reason, 2021 will be a more challenging year, with increased insolvencies when supports are reduced and payment breaks finish.

Another issue for many of these businesses is the loss of key staff members. For many, it will be a case of building business up again. It’s vital that the government continue to support these firms, where it can be demonstrated that they are viable, through grants and tax breaks as they get back on their feet through 2021 and into 2022.

ENTERPRISE The pandemic has brought many opportunities for new innovations, and OSK has supported clients around new company set-up, tax registration and advice on government initiatives. Often, it’s a case of providing a sounding board to our clients to discuss different opportunities and outline the various options to pursue these.

There has been a rise in international tax queries regarding individuals relocating to Ireland where they continue to be employed by their foreign employer. Brexit has also brought opportunities, with an increase in companies from the UK and elsewhere looking to set up businesses in Ireland.

‘Viable businesses need grant supports, not debt, to get back on their feet’