We are authorised to license and register firms and individuals to carry out specialist areas of work including audit, ATOL reporting, DPB (Investment Business), insolvency and probate.

In most cases, the fees for these areas of work consist of two parts:

• an ICAEW fee; and
• levies we collect on behalf of other organisations including the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and Insolvency Service.

ICAEW fee

This fee is the cost (required by law or regulation) of registration. The fee funds the ICAEW regulatory and assurance operation which includes:

• operation of the annual return and records maintenance;
• quality assurance reviews and visits (and a wealth of associated support and materials), development and maintenance of regulatory policies and firm and insolvency practitioner conduct.

The regulatory and assurance work of ICAEW is self-financed through the registration fees paid by regulated firms and individuals which cover the cost of operations. This budget is used to;

• carry out statutory and regulatory activity;
• explore new practice opportunities (including probate and reserved legal services); and
• address actual and potential changes to the regulations (recently this has included the Audit Regulations).

Registration fees are a cost of business to you and your firms and we work hard to limit the cost of regulation at all times. The budget for planned operations and registration fees is presented and approved each year by the ICAEW Regulatory Board (IRB).

The IRB derives its authority from the ICAEW Council. To ensure a greater degree of independence, the ICAEW Council has delegated the regulatory and disciplinary functions of ICAEW to IRB. The IRB comprises up to twelve individuals including the chair and a parity of lay and non-lay members.

The financial strategy addresses both the short and long term challenges posed by:

• income opportunity and threats;
• increasing complexity through offering a broader range of regulatory and assurance products;
• the requirements of our oversight bodies including FRC and LSB;
• the requirement for pension deficit and investment funding; and
• the need to ensure sufficient resources to;
  
  
  • carry out statutory and regulatory functions;
  • deliver a range of services and initiatives;
  • explore new practice opportunities; and
  • address potential changes to the regulatory environment.

ICAEW membership and practicing certificate fees are not used to subsidise the operation of the ICAEW regulatory and assurance function.

Levies we collect on behalf of other organisations

The organisations that oversee the regulatory work of ICAEW, such as the Insolvency Service and the FRC, require funding. As required, we collect levies on behalf of these bodies. As ICAEW is an authorising body, in some cases, we are required to provide other functions alongside our regulatory work such as funding a complaints gateway (insolvency) and providing compensation scheme arrangements (investment business, probate).

OPBAS levy for 2025

The OPBAS levy for each mainland UK ICAEW practising certificate holder will be £60: The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) levies an annual charge on all professional body supervisors (PBSs), including ICAEW, to fund its operational costs. The levy also includes a charge to cover ongoing ICAEW operational changes required to address the findings of the OPBAS supervisory assessments.

More about OPBAS

OPBAS is an oversight body set up by the government to strengthen the UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) supervisory regime and to ensure professional body supervisors (PBSs) provide consistently high standards of AML supervision. OPBAS delivers the government’s commitment to reform the AML supervisory regime and implements the Economic Crime Plan published in 2019.

Fee scales 2025

• Mergers and acquisitions fee scale
• Audit fee scale 2025
• Audit - Crown Dependencies 2025 - Available soon
• Affiliate fee scale 2025
• DPB (Investment Business) fee scale 2025
• Insolvency fee scale 2025
• Licensed Practice scheme fee scale 2025
• Probate fee scale 2025

Fee scales 2024

• Audit fee scale 2024
• Audit - Crown Dependencies 2024
• Affiliate fee scale 2024
• DPB (Investment Business) fee scale 2024
• Insolvency fee scale 2024
• Licensed Practice scheme fee scale 2024
• Probate fee scale 2024

Annual registration and payment of fees

We will automatically renew your regulatory registration every year. We will send you a proforma invoice  by email to confirm details of your registration (usually in November). This gives you time to ask questions about the proforma invoice before payment is due.

If you want to raise an invoice query, you must do so within 30 days of the issue date on the proforma invoice. If you do not raise a query within 30 days, you may be liable for the full fee as described on the proforma or invoice.

Annual registration fees are payable on 1 January and payment is due within 30 days. Payments under existing direct debit arrangements will be collected within 20 working days of the 1 January. Payment collection dates are shown on the proforma or invoice for newly established or changed direct debit instructions.

Once you have paid your regulatory fees, you will be considered to have accepted the firm structure described on the proforma document or invoice.

Regulatory fees are for a calendar year unless otherwise stated in the fee scales. We do not refund in part or in full annual regulatory fees.

Non-payment of regulatory fees will result in the member or firm being referred to the Professional Conduct Department.

We encourage you to pay annual fees by direct debit.

Payment options

Effect of other changes

The fee will be calculated on the basis of the information held about a firm at the time of issuing the proforma invoice or when a firm applies to be registered for a specialist area of work. Changes which are notified subsequently may be taken into account if they lead to an increased registration fee.

• Please view our terms and conditions for the payment of regulatory fees

For more information

If you have any questions for our accounts team such as how to obtain a copy renewal notice or how to set up or change a Direct Debit, please contact creditcontrol-psd@icaew.com.

If your renewal notice is incorrect due to changes in your firm structure or you would like to query the firm details we hold, please call +44 (0)1908 546 302 or email renewalqueries@icaew.com.

For any queries relating to your firm or an application on behalf of your firm, please quote your firm number (starting with C0), Your firm number covers any registrations that you have with us.

• Please view the FAQs on regulatory fees
• ICAEW probate accreditation: what your fees pay for