The new rules, expected to be signed into law by enterprise minister Micheal Martin before the end of the year, will force hundreds of companies to appoint expert accountants to their boards, with the new non-executive directors costing an estimated 30,000 a year for their services.

But sources in the profession predict that few accountants will be interested in the part-time work because of the risks involved. Accountants are haunted by the predicament of Simon Coyle, a partner in Dublin firm Mazars, who was barred by the High Court from being a director for five years because he sat on the board of failed company Tralee Beef and Lamb.

Coyle is now preparing to appeal the restriction in the Supreme Court and it is understood the case is due to be heard shortly.

The new rules are set out in the 2003 Companies Act but have yet to be signed into law by Micheal Martin. They require all public limited companies, as well as private companies with sales of more than 50m and assets of 25m, to appoint audit committees made up of directors who will face onerous responsibilities for a company's accounts and financial controls.

Most companies with more than 50 members are PLCs, bringing not-for-profit companies such as golf clubs and charities within the scope of the new rules.

"Companies coming within the scope of the legislation will need to appoint a number of non-executive directors with good audit and accounting knowledge to form an audit sub-committee of the main board of directors, " said Des Hanrahan, president of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in Ireland.

"The audit committee has very extensive legal responsibilities and it will be necessary to start planning now as to how these responsibilities will be discharged."

According to Aidan Clifford, advisory services manager at ACCA Ireland, accountants will think long and hard before agreeing to sit on the new audit committees.

"There won't be a big queue of people looking for this work because of the professional risks involved, " he said.

"They'll have to discharge their duties very carefully."