Legislation which came into place in 2017 that was to change how unlimited privately held companies filed accounts has had little effect so far.

Through the use of filing dates, and by setting up increasingly complex structures which involve internal charges to group companies, it is unlikely that there will be any increase in financial visibility of some of Ireland’s largest agri-food processors.

Many of Ireland’s largest agribusinesses, such as Larry Goodman’s ABP Group, the Browne and Queally-owned Dawn Meats Group, and the Keating controlled Kepak Group, all operate as unlimited (private) companies.

The law change, which was driven by the EU, stated that if a group has a limited company anywhere in its structure, every unlimited company or privately held company must publicly file accounts for the first time

These three companies have an estimated combined turnover close to €5bn and account for around 75% of the Irish cattle kill today.

Meat exports account for more than 30% of overall food and drink exports and are a critical part of the agri-based economy.

The law change, which was driven by the EU, stated that if a group has a limited company anywhere in its structure, every unlimited company or privately held company must publicly file accounts for the first time.

Up to the legislation change, unlimited companies were exempt from the requirement to publicly disclose their financial statements once they met certain criteria.

However, due to creative structures, each of the unlimited companies has been able to effectively maintain the limited liability of its owners, therefore protecting the individual shareholders of the businesses from any loss.

This level of secrecy hides profit levels, margins and more importantly the financial health of the company to suppliers, competitors or workers.

The legislation was set to change that. However, two years on, there is little more visibility around these businesses other than a three-page summary filed with the Company Registration Office. So what has happened?

The new laws came into force on 1 January 2017, which would see any unlimited company with a filing date of 31 December 2017 file accounts into the public domain within the following 10 months – ie by October 2018.

However, many unlimited companies decided to change their year-end by one day to 1 January 2018 (which is perfectly legal).

A property company could be set up where the trading company rents the buildings or factory from the property company for an inflated rent to suppress profits in the trading company

This sees a company year-end date of 1 January 2019, which means that the unlimited company does not need to file accounts until November 2019.

Does this mean that by November 2019 there will be visibility into the margins, profits levels and financial health of some of the largest agribusinesses operating in Ireland? Unfortunately not. Paranoia among shareholders of these entities to disclose their financial numbers has forced them to look at ways to comply with the law yet circumvent disclosing realistic financial accounts.

After all, these are companies within a complex web of structures at a group level – for example, if the company has a trading company and owns the buildings.

A property company could be set up where the trading company rents the buildings or factory from the property company for an inflated rent to suppress profits in the trading company.

So even though the trading company now files accounts, the value of these accounts for analysis or visibility becomes worthless.