The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

JULY 1994

notice and consultation for specified classes of local authority development. Part XIII specifies certain classes of development by State authorities for the purposes of section 2( 1) (a) of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1993, and the provisions of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts will not apply to development so specified. Part XIII also establishes a procedure of public notice and consultation for certain of the classes of development specified for the purposes of section 2(1) (a) of the 1993 Act. Parts X and XIII, and article 9(1) (a) in respect of certain classes of exempted development came into operation on June 15, 1994. All other provisions of the regulations came into operation with effect from 16 May, 1994. The regulations may be purchased from the Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 or by post from Government Publications, 4/5 Harcourt Road, Dublin 2, price: £22 plus £1.20 postage. • P r e s i d e n t ' s M e s s a g e (Continued from page 171) towards others. At times, Council Members report 'feedback' from the profession that the Society is seen as sometimes too inclined to presume that every complaint against a solicitor is valid and well-motivated and too inclined to take the side of the complainant. A solicitor who is the subject of what he sees as an unreasonable complaint may very well feel that way, but both the public interest and our own self-interest as an independent self-regulating profession requires that the complaining client is recognised as the weaker party and that any partiality that might arise in the process of investigating a complaint should be towards that weaker party."

Photographed at the 21st Anniversary of The Irish Society for European Law were some of the speakers, l-r: Tony Collins, BL; Judge Tom O'Higgins, John Cooke, SC; Vincent Power, Solicitor, Chairman of the Society; John Handoll, Solicitor; Judge John Murray and Gerard Hogan, BL.

A r e Y o u r B o o k s i n O r d e r ? ?? (Continued from page 175) account for the benefit of the client at the principal bank to the practice of the solicitor. The obligation, however, is subject to any arrangement which may be made in writing between a solicitor and a client for the application of the client's money or interest. Good accounting pays The Compensation Fund Committee frequently emphasises that solicitors should look upon and use their accounting records as a management resource; that to be an effective management tool the records must be written up to date at all times. The example, yearly or monthly), does not constitute compliance with Regulation 10 of the Solicitors Accounts Regulations, (other than in extremely exceptional circumstances where the number of financial transactions handled is infinitesimal). The 1994 update of the Handbook of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants defines accounting as a "discipline which provides financial and other information essential to the periodic updating of accounting records on a historic basis (for

efficient conduct and evaluation of the activities of any organisation". The information which accounting provides is essential for: (1) effective planning, control and decision-making by management and (2) discharging the accountability of organisations to others. Where the organisation in question is a solicitor's practice, the discharge of its accountability to clients is paramount. To be meaningful the information available for these purposes must be current and up to date, not merely historic. Daniel Defoe propounded the same message in 1774 when he wrote:- A tradesman's book (of account) are his repeating clock, which upon all occasions are to tell him how he goes on, and how things stand with him in the world; there he will know when 'tis time to go on, or when 'tis time to give over . . . His books being so essential to his trade, he that comes out of his time without a perfect knowledge of the method of bookkeeping . . . knows not what to do, or what step to take. (Ibid) •

Michael V. O'Mahony President

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