EVER get up early to hide an expensive credit card bill from your husband? Or 'forget' to tell your wife about a bonus?

Perhaps your investment portfolio is best kept to yourself; your relationship might turn fractious if your true earnings were discovered. In Ireland, it's not uncommon for accountants to know more about a person than their spouse does.

The practice of concealing small and large sums of money from a significant other is common in Ireland and has been the cause of more than one marital disagreement. Accountants, family law solicitors and marriage counsellors encounter it regularly in the course of their work.

Research in the US suggests that almost one in three adults (29%) between the ages of 25 and 55 has been less then honest about their financial affairs to their spouse. In Britain, banks have reported a significant rise in the number of single-owned accounts compared to joint holders, 'Salties' - Separate Accounts Living Together.

"It wouldn't surprise me to have similar instances here, " said Dublin family law solicitor Julian Deale, who has come across some of the more severe instances of financial infidelity through his practice. As yet, there is no Irish- specific research in the area.

"I have seen it in many cases and every kind of deception and deviance has been used to conceal it. You must remember there are three main issues when dealing with divorce and separation - money, money and money, " he said.

People will have their employers send bonuses or expenses to a different account, from which a separate and/or secret credit card is paid. Assets such as overseas property can be placed in the name of venture partners. Having an account in your Irish name in a different bank branch is another cited method. It's not unheard of for some companies' payroll sections to accommodate this practice.

Marriage and couples counsellor Marie Daly of MRCS counselling said money can be easy to hide for those who want to do it.

"Finance would be a major theme of our marriage courses and trying to work with both partners. Money is very easy to hide. It's hard to say how common this practice is in Ireland but many of the biggest rows in marriages and couples centre on money, " she said.

Sometimes hidden assets and income do not emerge until family law proceedings get under way or illegal activity is uncovered by the Revenue Commissioners.

As one reputable accountant from the south of Ireland put it: "It's far easier to hide money from your wife or husband than from the Revenue. It's sad to say but it's true if you are that way inclined, " he said.

Despite the fact that this issue is only now beginning to be highlighted in the media and elsewhere, the changes in Irish financial culture brought about by tribunal revelations and greater income-gender equality means that it is probably less common than before. Also, the absence of a divorce-oriented culture lessens the need for it here compared to, say, the US.

"I would say it still goes on quite a bit, ' said another accountancy source. "In most cases I have come across it's fairly harmless and smaller sums of money are involved. It was probably more common 30 or 40 years ago when it was acceptable for the man of the house to handle all aspects of finance, " the source said.

The fear of full disclosure of spending habits was one of reasons it was hard to convince people who had always been paid in cash to switch to banking their salaries.

"When partners would be able to know more about what people earned, that situation didn't suit everyone, I suppose. It was one of the main reasons many people didn't want to switch from cash pay, both male and female, " the source said.

Part of the underlying problem in some cases is that one of the partners can be kept in ignorance of the other's job description. Sometimes wives are not even fully aware of what their husbands do.

"It's surprising the number of women who come to me and have only very vague details about their husband's occupation, " said Julian Deale. "Sometimes they even know as little as that he's a civil servant - not even if he is a prison officer or teacher. It's quite extraordinary. They live off the cash the husband provides for them. Sometimes, once they and the children are comfortable, they do not take an interest in their husband's dealings, " he said.

However, in the case of divorce and separation proceedings, the law is supportive of the spouse who has been financially left out in the cold.

"The only good thing about those instances is that if someone is concealing something to a judge in an affidavit, it is easy to discover the truth. Employers and bank officials can be subpoenaed. Any solicitor worth his salt or with any bit of integrity should be able to sort it out in time, " Deale said.