Key reminders and updates
Disciplinary update: November 2024
Take note of the latest disciplinary cases to ensure you or your firm are not making similar mistakes.
Updates to FAQs for firms on their CPD responsibilities
Did you know that members can now download PDF summaries of their CPD activities and retrospectively add activities to previous CPD years? Take a look at the updates to questions 13 and 14 to find out more.
Quality Assurance monitoring feedback results
Find out what our firms thought of the monitoring review process in Q3 2024.
Professional regulation: processes and people
Catherine Boyd joined the ICAEW Regulatory Board (IRB) earlier this year. In the third of our series introducing new board members, she tells us about her long-standing interest in governance and explains why a holistic approach to regulation is so important.
Audit
Auditors’ obligations to report to the FCA
Following the first sanction imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on an audit firm for failing to comply with reporting obligations, ICAEW is reminding auditors of their statutory duty under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to report to the financial regulator.
Exclusive
ISQM (UK) 1 Annual evaluation
Technical helpsheet offering guidance to help firms comply with the documentation requirements under ISQM (UK) 1 in respect of the evaluation of the system of quality management (SOQM) which must take place at least once a year.
Practising Auditor Competency Framework
Helping audit professionals understand the competencies they should develop as they move towards becoming a responsible individual (RI), and how to maintain those skills, including when they are an RI.
Private equity investment in audit firms
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) recently published a letter explaining that any firm interested in, or considering a change of ownership to introduce private capital should engage with both the FRC and the firm’s recognised supervisory body (RSB) at the earliest opportunity. All such discussions will be in confidence. This requirement to engage with the FRC and the firm’s RSB applies to all audit-registered firms, and not just those firms that hold public-interest-entity authorisation with the FRC.
Updated Charities Commission Guidance for Trustees
Actions to improve finances, protect against difficulties and what to do if a charity is at risk of insolvency.
Audit Monitoring Results Webinar Recording
Our Quality Assurance Department take you through the latest monitoring results.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
AML Thematic review: The firm-wide risk assessment
Read our latest thematic review on the firm-wide risk assessment for insights into what firms are doing well, where improvements can be made and ICAEW's key reflections.
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act
Companies House has published its intended implementation timeline for the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. The timeline shows how more measures will be introduced under the act over the next few years – including ID verification and registering to be an Authorised Corporate Service Provider.
ICAEW AML supervisory role and activity Q3 2024
- PDF (92kb)
Our strategy is to provide robust anti-money laundering supervision through a risk-based regime. We focus our efforts on firms where the risk that they will be used to enable money laundering is highest. Find out what we did in Q3 2024 to prevent money laundering.
Insolvency
Reform of IP bonding frameworks and Official Receiver fees
The government has published The Insolvency Practitioners (Amendment and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024, effective 1 December 2024. This update, following stakeholder input, brings significant changes to IP bonding frameworks. With a transition period until 31 December 2025, existing bonds will remain valid, while new provisions will apply to future bonds starting January 2026. To align with inflation, the Insolvency (Amendment) Regulations 2024 and Insolvency Proceedings (Fees) (Amendments) Order 2024 (effective 9 January 2025) bring updates to Official Receiver fees for bankruptcy...
Introduction of the revised Insolvency Guidance Paper – Control of Cases
Under the Joint Insolvency Committee’s (JIC’s) strategic work plan, Insolvency Guidance Papers (IGPs) are subject to periodic review to ensure they remain relevant to changing legislation and market conditions. A revised IGP approved by JIC and each of the recognised professional bodies (RPBs) relating to the control of cases has today been issued by each of the RPBs).
HMRC Insolvency Bulletins
There have been several bulletins published this month, check you are up to date with HRMC’s latest updates: Specified Charges in Insolvency, Confidentiality and disclosure in personal insolvencies, Members Voluntary Liquidation Updates and Digital Platform Reporting Service.
Insolvency roadshow recordings
Listen back to two of our latest webinars: Practice Assurance for insolvency practitioners and Quality Assurance round-up for 2024.
Probate
HMCTS probate drop in sessions
An opportunity for probate professionals to meet members of HM Courts and Tribunals Service, find out more about the service and give your feedback.
Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation: Changes to the Legal Services General Licence
OFSI has made three specific amendments regarding increases to fee caps, a new permission for payments into non-UK bank accounts in a limited number of countries and clarifies how caps apply to in-house lawyers and directly instructed counsel.
ICAEW's consumer engagement strategy
Find out more about ICAEW's commitment to improving access to legal services and increasing competition in the sector.
Probate - Common pitfalls
To help your firm avoid inadvertent breaches of the Legal Services Regulations, we have highlighted some of the common breaches we see. These issues can lead to potential regulatory action and interruption of probate services so it’s important that you take note to ensure your firm avoids these common pitfalls.
