Professional Standards update March 2023

Revamped disciplinary framework to take effect in June
Following Privy Council approval of changes to ICAEW's existing Disciplinary Bye-laws, ICAEW's new disciplinary framework will come into effect from 1 June this year. We talk to Duncan Wiggetts, Chief Officer for Professional Standards, about next steps and what the changes mean for investigations and disciplinary proceedings.

Disciplinary update: March 2023
Take note of the latest disciplinary cases to ensure you or your firm are not making similar mistakes.

ICAEW Regulatory Board papers
Find out what was discussed at recent board meetings.

Apply to serve on our regulatory and disciplinary committees

Learn what expertise we need and remuneration rates for accountants and lay members on our regulatory and disciplinary committees.

Audit sanctions: what they mean in practice
On 15 December 2022, the UK Government laid new regulations in Parliament that extended the prohibition on the provision of professional services to include ‘auditing services’. The ban came into effect on 16 December 2022. Find out what the extension means in practice.

Good practice when taking on new audits
Recent intelligence shows that there are significant numbers of UK companies seeking new auditors and that the audit tender market is buoyant. Audit firms that evolve and enhance their client acceptance procedures adapting to current market risks are well equipped to make informed decisions when choosing to accept new audits into an existing portfolio.

Make sure SARs stand up to scrutiny
The past year has seen a ramping up of submissions of Suspicious Activity Reports. Michael Jones from the UK Financial Intelligence Unit explains how accountants can best play a vital role in combating crime.

Money laundering risks – a practical guide
Join anti-money laundering professionals and members of ICAEW’s AML supervision team for this free AML webinar focusing on risk.

Webinar recording: SARs - what good looks like
Listen again to this webinar featuring the Financial Intelligence Unit of the National Crime Agency and National Investigation Service on what constitutes a good quality suspicious activity report (SAR), focusing on bounce back loan and other COVID support schemes fraud.

Changes to the Statement of Insolvency Practice 3.1 – Individual Voluntary Arrangements
The principal changes in the revised SIP 3.1 relate to the degree of emphasis on the insolvency practitioner’s responsibility to ensure that the debtor has received suitable advice prior to entering an IVA and during its implementation. 

A beneficial tool: making insolvency compliance reviews work for you
The requirement for insolvency practitioners (IPs) to carry out annual compliance reviews has been in force for almost two decades, yet some IPs are still failing to meet this duty. Alison Morgan, Insolvency Manager at ICAEW, tells us why reviews are so useful, and how IPs can avoid some common mistakes.

Companies House alert for insolvency practitioners
The Companies Act 2006 requires a company to submit a copy of a resolution to the Registrar in order to comply with several different filing obligations. It has previously been the Registrar’s practice to accept a set of minutes that contains details of the resolution.
From 13 March we will no longer accept a set of minutes which have a resolution embedded within them. A company will need to file a separate copy of the resolution in order to comply with their filing requirements. We will regard sets of minutes that are submitted from 13 March to be unnecessary material which is not easily separable and so the Registrar will reject such documents.

Companies House: give notice of a resolution

Probate diversity survey
ICAEW accredited firms needs to carry out their probate diversity survey as close to 31 March as possible. Results must be returned to us by 30 April 2023.
Access a list of FAQ's, find out what data you need to collect and watch a webinar on how to collect it.

Placing statutory advertisements
Access guidance on our best practice recommendation for deceased estates notice placement.

ICAEW highly rated in recent LSB assessment
The assessment identified several common themes that need to be addressed by all regulators. Read more about the findings from the Legal Services Board (LSB) and how ICAEW performed well in their assessment.

2022 probate financial report – infographic now available
Read the results for 2022 in ICAEW’s probate financial report infographic.