Disciplinary Update 2026, Issue 7

Included within the latest published orders are the following:

Tribunals Committee tribunal order

• Criminal conviction

  A member was found liable to disciplinary action after receiving a criminal conviction.

• Professional competence and due care in tax work
  
  A member was found to have prepared and submitted multiple incorrect self-assessment tax returns over a prolonged period. The member also failed to cooperate with an ICAEW investigation by not providing information requested through a formal notice.

• Assurance work without appropriate procedures
  
  A member issued stock valuation certificates over a number of years without carrying out sufficient assurance procedures to verify the values being certified.

• Unprofessional communications
  
  A member made comments in emails that they knew or should have known might discredit the profession.

• Failure to cooperate with ICAEW
  
  A member failed to provide ICAEW with information, explanations and documents requested through a formal notice.
  
  AND
  
  Another member failed to provide to ICAEW information, explanations and documents requested through formal notices on two separate occasions.
  
  

• Risk of facilitating money laundering, dishonesty and regulatory failures.
  
  A member allowed substantial receipts from third parties to be received into a firm’s office bank account, knowingly becoming involved in a risk of facilitating money laundering. The member also failed to exercise professional judgement in assessing threats to the fundamental principles in receiving those receipts, disclaimed funds held in the account and gave the police a dishonest explanation about their source. Further failures included not submitting an annual return, not providing information required for a Practice Assurance review and not complying with an earlier Order of the Tribunals Committee.
  
  

• Dishonest practical experience records
  
  A provisional member submitted a practical experience training record to another professional body containing dishonest information about supervision and completed performance objectives.
  
  
• Signing pro forma audit reports without the required authorisation
  
  A member signed one or more pro forma audit reports while discussing possible audit appointments, despite not holding a practising certificate and not being authorised as a Responsible Individual.

Tribunals Committee settlement order

• False declaration to ICAEW
  
  A provisional member made an application to register as an independent student while already employed under a training agreement.

• Failures in probate work and complaint handling
  
  An authorised individual failed to exercise adequate control over probate work by not reviewing the file regularly, ensuring that work was completed promptly or maintaining accurate records of communications and time spent. Fees were also charged that were not in accordance with the terms agreed at the outset.

Conduct Committee consent orders

• Charity accounts and independent examinations

  A member prepared financial statements for a charity over multiple periods using an incorrect financial reporting framework, and also issued reports on those financial statements that did not meet the requirements applicable to the charity. The member also issued an independent examiner's report on a charity without carrying out an independent examination.
  
  

• Misrepresentation of attendance and study leave

  A member failed to attend work or training courses while recording attendance on timesheets. The member also took unauthorised study leave on a number of occasions.
  
  

• Workplace misconduct

  A member assaulted a colleague at a work-related social event.
  
  

• Compliance breaches

  A member engaged in public practice without a practising certificate over a prolonged period. The member also failed to ensure appropriate anti-money laundering supervision, did not notify ICAEW of the establishment of firms, engaged in practice without sufficient professional indemnity insurance, and failed to pay a registration fee with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
  
  AND
  
  Another member failed to notify ICAEW of changes to a firm, failed to ensure that the firm was supervised by an appropriate anti-money laundering supervisory authority and submitted annual returns containing incorrect information.
  
  AND
  
  A member failed to disclose a connected entity on several ICAEW annual returns. The member also failed to ensure that two firms were supervised by an appropriate anti-money laundering supervisory authority and engaged in public practice through the firms without professional indemnity insurance

• Audit compliance monitoring failures
  
  A firm incorrectly completed annual returns by stating that audit compliance monitoring activities had been performed when they had not.

• Audit evidence and documentation failures
  
  A member signed an unmodified audit report when sufficient appropriate audit evidence had not been obtained in several material areas, and the audit documentation did not adequately record the work performed and evidence obtained. The financial statements also did not comply with relevant requirements concerning related parties and going concern.

• Incorrect claim for tax relief
  
  A member submitted a client’s self-assessment tax return containing an incorrect claim for Business Asset Disposal Relief after failing to check whether the relevant conditions had been met.

• Deficiencies in independent examination work
  
  A member issued independent examiner’s reports containing several deficiencies. These included failing to identify the individual acting as independent examiner, omitting or incorrectly presenting related party information, retaining incomplete standard wording and failing to provide adequate information about restricted funds.

• Inadequate tax advice
  
  A member failed to maintain the professional knowledge and skill required to provide a competent service and/or did not carry out their work with proper regard to the technical and professional standards, when advising a client on the tax implications of a proposed sale.

Conduct Committee fixed penalty orders

• Compliance breaches 

  Several members were found to have engaged in public practice without the minimum level of professional indemnity insurance, and/or engaged in public practice whilst not holding a practising certificate, and/or failed to notify ICAEW of changes to the firm, and/or failed to ensure that the firm was supervised by an appropriate anti-money laundering supervisory authority.
  
  

• Criminal convictions and professional behaviour

  A member was found to have breached the fundamental principle of professional behaviour after being convicted of assault and drunk and disorderly conduct.

   

Key themes

• Professional competence and due care failures, namely in tax, accounting, assurance and charity reporting work. Insufficient verification, evidence or compliance monitoring before issuing reports, certifications or regulatory returns.
• Integrity, professional behaviour and conduct concerns, including false declarations, inaccurate records, criminal conduct and workplace misconduct.
• Practice compliance breaches, including practising without appropriate authorisation, inadequate professional indemnity insurance, anti-money laundering supervision failures and late firmnotifications.
• Failure to cooperate fully with ICAEW regulatory processes and information requests.
  
  

Further guidance and resources

Please make use of the following resources to ensure you are up to date with the latest regulatory information and news.

• Rising concerns with student misconduct in exams and assessments
• Qualifications regulations
• Practice Assurance Regulations
• Practising certificates
• Professional indemnity insurance
• Anti-money laundering supervision
• Audit Regulations and Guidance
• Professional conduct in relation to taxation (PCRT) | Tax 
• Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation: a tax perspective on ethics
• Legal Ombudsman guidance on handling complaints | Probate services
• ICAEW training films
• ICAEW Ethics hub
• ICAEW’s Regulation hub
• Disciplinary Bye-laws

Further details can be found on our Disciplinary Database or please visit our Public Hearings page.