The State's corporate watchdog was successful in obtaining convictions for some 67 company law offences last year, an increase of some 56 per cent on 2003.
The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) said it also successfully prosecuted two offences for the first time - fraudulent trading and acting as a director while restricted.
For the first time, the ODCA says, the courts indicated a willingness to impose custodial sentences. In March, two suspended sentences of six months were imposed in cases of convictions for fraudulent trading and failing to keep proper accounts. Later in the year, a further suspended sentence was imposed in relation to a conviction for acting as an auditor while unqualified.
Cases of possible corporate misconduct with the ODCE last year increased by more than 12 per cent from 2,104 to 2,363. Over 1,950 of these were new cases and about 80 per cent of these came from auditors reporting suspected offences.
Failing to file annual returns on time dominated the reported defaults.
However, the use by directors of company assets for personal use continues to be a "major area of concern", the ODCA said. Some 490 such cases were brought to the office's attention last year, an 80 per cent increase on the 271 reported in 2003.
The ODCE said significant non-compliance in the area of directors' loans was rectified last year, with the repayment of some €100 million in company assets where directors or others were apparently using company money for personal use.
There was a 135 per cent increase in the number of restricted directors, which stood at 470 at the end of 2004 compared to 200 the previous year.
In a statement accompanying the ODCE's interim review, the Director of Corporate Enforcement Mr Paul Appleby said: "It is clear from court decisions in 2004 that company directors and others are being regularly found to be in breach of their statutory obligations or to be acting recklessly or irresponsibly in discharging their duties.
"Such behaviour often directly costs the stakeholders of the affected companies in monies owed to their creditors, employees or even fellow directors. It also, of course, has a damaging reputational impact on the business or the individuals associated with such behaviour."
However, Mr Appleby said what had changed in recent year was that directors and others were "increasingly being called to account" for failure to comply with the standards of behaviour expected of them by the law and by society generally.