NEWS REACHES us that the long-awaited report of the Innovation Taskforce will be published on March 12th, paving the way for the Government to implement its smart economy strategy, unveiled with much fanfare back in December 2008.

Chris Horn, former Iona Technologies boss, has been blogging about the progress of the 28-member taskforce, which was asked to report to the Government within six months of its first meeting in mid-July.

Thanks to Horn we know it considered a first final draft back in December and met again at the end of January to finalise the report.

It is now awaiting Cabinet approval but we hear March 12th is the day we’ll hear how the Government plans to implement the smart economy we’ve been hearing so much about.

Accounts for property-holding and development companies are often pretty Byzantine, to say the least. But even auditors are left scratching their heads at the latest batch of accounts that has been appearing on the Companies’ Register.

The problem these days isn’t unravelling the tangled relationships between all the entities and subsidiaries in many of these businesses, although that’s still an issue; it’s establishing whether or not there’s a business there at all.

Two companies, Bactact and Parkmount Taverns, which are part of Hugh O’Regan’s bar and hotel empire, and specifically the Kilternan Hotel and Country Club project, have filed accounts for their most recent financial years.

The figures don’t have a lot to say, but the auditors, from BDO, point out that, as the companies’ parent, Dashaven, has been placed in liquidation, they cannot say whether it is correct to apply the “going concern” standard to the companies in question.

The other problem they face is that it is not possible to put a value on freehold land and buildings.

However, within those limitations, they say the accounts are a true and fair view of the companies’ financial positions.

Perhaps it’s time to apply a little common sense to auditing standards?