Take note of the latest disciplinary cases to ensure you or your firm are not making similar mistakes.
Since the last update, one Tribunal Committee tribunal order, ten consent orders from the Conduct Committee and two settlement orders have been published.
Included within the latest published orders are the following:
Tribunal Committee tribunal order
- Criminal conviction
A member was excluded from membership following conviction for indictable offences.
Conduct Committee consent orders
- Compliance matters
A member failed to ensure their firm was supervised by an appropriate anti-money laundering supervisory authority, engaged in public practice without professional indemnity insurance, used the description “Chartered Accountants” when their firm was not entitled to do so, and failed to notify the ICAEW Members’ Registrar within the required timeframe of changes to their firm.
- Signing audit reports when not authorised
- A member signed audit reports when they were not an authorised Responsible Individual of the firm.
And - a firm allowed an individual to sign audit reports on behalf of the firm when they were not an authorised Responsible Individual of the firm, and also failed to notify ICAEW of the individual’s appointment as a principal of the firm within the required timeframe.
- A member signed audit reports when they were not an authorised Responsible Individual of the firm.
- Defective audit work
- A member signed two audit reports when they failed to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence in respect of three specific account areas, and also acted contrary to Chapter 3 of the Code of Audit Practice as they failed to consider evidence obtained as part of the financial statement audit.
And - a firm signed two audit reports when they failed to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence in respect of three specific account areas, and also acted contrary to Chapter 3 of the Code of Audit Practice as they failed to consider evidence obtained as part of the financial statement audit.
And - a firm issued audit opinions on two consecutive accounting periods when the firm failed to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence and prepare adequate audit documentation regarding related parties and their transactions, and the financial statements did not comply with Sections 1 and 9 of the Charities SORP FRS 102 and Section 185 of the Charities Act 2011.
And - a firm issued an audit report when they failed to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence in relation to amortisation charges.
- A member signed two audit reports when they failed to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence in respect of three specific account areas, and also acted contrary to Chapter 3 of the Code of Audit Practice as they failed to consider evidence obtained as part of the financial statement audit.
- Breach of FRC Ethical Standard
A firm issued two consecutive audit opinions when they had implemented information technology systems important to a significant part of the accounting system of the audit client that the firm would place significant reliance on as part of the audit, and also failed to identify and assess the independence threats and effectiveness of available safeguards.
- Incorrect accounting treatment
A member prepared two consecutive sets of financial statements for two clients which incorrectly treated a dividend in specie as an intercompany balance.
- Confidentiality and client information
A member utilised two employees to print, scan and return to them confidential information relating to clients of a separate entity.
Settlement orders
- Criminal conviction
A member was convicted of an indictable offence.
- Confidential information
A member transferred data to their personal electronic device when they were not authorised to do so, and which contained confidential information and/or data that was the property of their employer.
Key themes
- Failures in technical standards, particularly in audit evidence, financial reporting and regulatory compliance
- Non-compliance with AML supervision and failure to notify ICAEW of firm formation or changes
- Ethical breaches, including transfer of confidential information and acting as auditor without addressing a threat to independence
- Criminal convictions
Further details can be found on our Disciplinary Database or please visit our Public Hearings page.
Useful links
Please make use of the following resources to ensure you are up to date with the latest regulatory information and news.
- ICAEW Ethics hub
- ICAEW’s Regulation hub
- Disciplinary Bye-laws
- Regulatory & Conduct news - subscribe to stay up to date on latest regulatory news or follow us on our dedicated Regulation and Conduct LinkedIn channel.