Registration and supervision

Chartered Accountants Ireland is a listed competent authority and a supervisory authority under Irish and UK money laundering legislation respectively. Professional Standards Department performs this regulatory function on behalf of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Supervision in the Republic of Ireland

Under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, as amended, (the “Act”) those carrying out certain activities must be supervised by a competent authority for anti-money laundering purposes; those activities include acting as an auditor, external accountant, tax adviser and / or trust or company service provider. These comprise just one category of “designated persons” under the Act. Chartered Accountants Ireland is a competent authority (a self regulating body) under the Act and is responsible for supervising certain designated persons.

Practising firms of Chartered Accountants Ireland are already subject to anti-money laundering supervision under the Public Practice Regulations. In Ireland, other designated persons within the Institute's remit will be supervised in accordance with the Money Laundering Supervision Regulations, for example, TCSPs. There will be circumstances where there is more than one competent authority for a particular designated person and agreements are in place between the Designated Accountancy Bodies as well as the Department of Justice and Equality to determine who will be responsible in such circumstances.

For more information please refer to the documents below .

It is important to note that the guidance is simply a tool to assist in your understanding and application of the Money Laundering Supervision Regulations; it is not a substitute for the Regulations, which you should consult in order to determine what, if any, responsibilities you may have.

You can obtain an application form for registration below.

Supervision in the UK

The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require all firms that provide accountancy services; trust and company service providers; or related services such as tax advice, audit or insolvency, to be supervised for AML purposes by HMRC or by one of the specified professional bodies.

Chartered Accountants Ireland is a supervisory authority pursuant to Schedule 3 of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017.

The Regulations define relevant persons as including:
-  auditors;
-  insolvency practitioners;
-  external accountants;
-  tax advisors;
-  trust or company service providers

Chartered Accountants Ireland provides AML supervision as part of the quality assurance regime applicable to all practising certificate holders.  Firms that provide trust and company services as an incidental part of their main accountancy practice, will be supervised by Chartered Accountants Ireland for AML purposes.  Those firms who provide trust and company services as their main business all outside the quality assurance regime and must be registered with HMRC for AML supervision.

The AML supervisors within the accountancy sector have prepared a flowchart, to help firms identify who their supervisory body should be.  Where there may be more than one AML supervisor, the supervisor bodies have agreed a protocol to identify who the supervisor should be.

If you have any questions regarding AML supervision please contact Professional Standards.

If you are a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland and do not hold a practising certificate in accordance with the Public Practice Regulations and are acting as a book keeper or trust and company service provider, you are required to register with and be supervised by HMRC MLR9 Registration Notice.

Firms who provide trust and company services or book keeping as part of their accountancy practice do not need to hold dual registration.