How to report to the CAA to protect holiday-goers

19 February 2020: Air Travel Organisers’ Licence protection acts as a crucial safeguard for UK holidaymakers booking air package holidays, helping to prevent them being stranded abroad or from losing money should their travel provider become insolvent.

ICAEW chartered accountants play an important role in reporting to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), writes Alex Russell, Technical Manager in ICAEW’s Audit & Assurance Faculty. 

The ATOL scheme is a UK CAA scheme that protects most air package holidays sold by travel businesses licenced in the UK. 

In order for ATOL holders to renew their ATOL licence, they must submit financial and non-financial information to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and engage an ATOL Reporting Accountant (ARA) to report on certain aspects of this information. An ARA is a member of an ATOL Reporting Accountant Scheme and ICAEW’s Licensed Practice Scheme has been approved by the CAA for this purpose. 

TECH 02/20 AAF sets out good practice guidance for ARAs on how to perform these engagements. The guidance helps ARAs to scope and perform their work to meet their professional responsibilities. It also includes standard terms of engagement, suggested work procedures for reporting on licensable revenue and CAA agreed-upon procedures for other types of reporting.

The technical release has been developed with input from the CAA and is intended to help promote consistency in approach. This guidance reflects changes to the ATOL regulations in 2018. The main changes relate to what ATOL holders are required to report under licensable revenue, and definitions of single and multi-contract packages.

Members have access to the new guidance here.