The deadline for completing your 2022 CPD Declaration has now passed. We requested that it was completed and submitted by 28 April 2023. We would be grateful if you could complete your online CPD Declaration for monitoring purposes, by 31 May 2023. If you are unable to meet this timescale, please contact us immediately. Failure to submit your CPD Declaration in respect of the 2022 CPD year may result in this matter being referred to the Quality Assurance Committee. This may result in regulatory action, including an immediate audit inspection, the imposition of a regulatory penalty or the withdrawal of your audit registration. Further information on the IAASA CPD Guidelines, including checklists and specimen CPD records are available on the Institute’s website here.  If you need further assistance, please email any queries to ricpdobligations@charteredaccountants.ie  

The Institute’s Professional Standards Department recently wrote to all audit compliance principals in relation to the obligations of audit firms with regard to information on the Public Audit Register.  In this letter, audit firms are reminded of the legal and regulatory obligations to: Notify the Institute, within ten business day, of certain changes in relation to an audit firm (specified in Audit Regulation 2.11).  It is not appropriate to wait until the submission of the next firm annual return. Provide complete and correct information in the firm annual return and check standing data for accuracy Provide details of the members of the audit firm’s management board – a firm which does not have a management board separate from the firm principals/shareholders should provide the names of the principals/shareholders in that regard Consider the definition of ‘network firm’ in the Audit Regulations (2.12) and provide details in relation to any network to which the audit firm belongs. It is important to give careful attention to the reminders in this letter.  A failure to provide the appropriate information on a timely basis is a breach of the Audit Regulations which could result in regulatory action, including regulatory penalties, and may also constitute an offence under company legislation. These, and other regulatory matters, were also highlighted in the latest edition of the Regulatory Bulletin.

Professional Standards Department is pleased to publish its Trust and Company Service Providers Thematic Review. This document summarises the responses to a detailed Questionnaire issued to a sample of firms based in Northern Ireland. The majority of firms only provide TCSP services such as company formation / registered office and only provide such services to existing clients alongside other ancillary accountancy services (eg statutory audit, tax and accounts preparation). Firms are aware of the risks associated with TCSP services but do not always consider such services to be high risk when provided to existing clients with a clear business rationale expressed for the service. We are encouraged by these findings which support our wider monitoring and supervision activity.

The deadline for completing your 2022 CPD Declaration has now passed. We requested that it was completed and submitted by 28 April 2023. We would be grateful if you could complete your online CPD Declaration for monitoring purposes, by 12 May 2023. If you are unable to meet this timescale please contact us immediately. Further information on the IAASA CPD Guidelines, including checklists and specimen CPD records are available on the Institute’s website here.  If you need further assistance please email any queries to ricpdobligations@charteredaccountants.ie

Background - The Institute is considering whether any changes may be required to its Professional Indemnity Insurance (“PII”) requirements to ensure they remain fit for purpose. Insurance requirements The Institute’s PII requirements are set out in Chapter 7 of the Public Practice Regulations. Firms within the scope of the Public Practice Regulations have a duty to take such steps as may reasonably be expected to meet claims arising from public practice.  As part of this, firms must put in place ‘qualifying insurance’.  This is insurance which: is provided by a ‘participating insurer’ List of participating insurers ROI and List of participating insurers UK; meets the minimum limit of indemnity specified in Regulations 7.16 and 7.17; complies with The Institute’s Minimum Approved Wording; and provides six years retroactive cover (i.e., cover for claims arising in relation to activities carried on by the firm during the last six years save for circumstances and claims known about prior to the inception of the policy). Share your thoughts We are keen to understand your experience when dealing with PII and your views on aspects of Chapter 7 of the Public Practice Regulations, particularly those that prescribe the type and level of cover our firms are required to hold.  If you would like to share views on any of the following areas, please email professionalstandards@charteredaccountants.ie with your comments. Do you think the Institute’s current PII requirements are appropriate for your business and provide sufficient protection against claims arising from public practice? What are the major challenges to you/your firm when purchasing PII? (Coverage, limit of indemnity, price etc) Do you think the minimum limit of indemnity specified in Regulations 7.16 and 7.17 is too high, too low, or at an appropriate level? Do you think the PII run off requirements at Regulation 7.11 provide sufficient protection to the public? Would you be concerned that any changes to the current run-off requirements could have a detrimental effect on the availability or cost of run-off insurance in the accountancy market? Do you have any other specific concerns or feedback about the Institute’s PII requirements? What changes, if any, to the PII requirements would facilitate your business as well as ensuring protection to the public? The high-level outputs of this review will form part of our engagement with ICAEW and ICAS, who are also engaging with their member firms on this issue.  You may also wish to share your views using ICAEW’s online questionnaire by 31 May 2023.  Whilst this particular project is being led by ICAEW, the outputs may have implications for Institute firms given the close cooperation of all the chartered accountancy bodies in relation to PII.  If completing the ICAEW online questionnaire, there is an option to complete as a member or firm regulated by another accountancy body, and any questions which are specific to ICAEW members only can be marked as not applicable.    Review of ICAEW’s PII Regulations | ICAEW We will provide further updates to firms in due course if any substantive changes are envisaged to the Institute’s current PII requirements.

The latest Newsletter from the SARs Reform Programme is now available. The first 6 reporting organisations have started to use the new SAR Portal to submit suspicious activity reports. This Newsletter provides a timeline for further testing with the addition of more users throughout the year. The National Crime Agency has published 2 new user guides and an FAQs document for the new SARs Portal that can be found on the NCA website.

A working group of the Joint Insolvency Committee (JIC) has been reviewing Statement of Insolvency Practice 3.3 – Trust Deeds (SIP 3.3) and are now inviting comments on the revised SIP. The working group was comprised of insolvency professionals and other stakeholders in the trust deed process including the Accountant in Bankruptcy. The JIC decided to review the SIP because many of the issues which were relevant to the recently revised SIP 3.1 (Individual Voluntary Arrangements) apply equally to SIP 3.3 and because of matters raised within the context of the Scottish Parliament’s enquiry into Protected Trust Deeds and the subsequent Scottish Government response. SIP 3.3 was last issued in 2014. The following is a summary of the key changes between the existent SIP 3.3 and the revised SIP 3.3: The principles, key compliance standards and standards of specific application have been harmonised with SIP 3.1 as far as practicable, subject to amendments required to take account of Scots law, trust deed procedures, appropriate terminology, etc. The language has been simplified, made gender neutral and updated in line with JIC drafting guidance. It was felt appropriate to retain the SIP’s application to all trust deeds and not just protected trust deeds. The application of certain paragraphs to PTDs and unprotected trust deeds has been clarified. Restatement of legislative provisions have been removed as far as possible. The key elements of the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s PTD Protocol have been incorporated. As the SIP is principles based these are not incorporated using the same style/wording/process but the underlying principles and standards are consistent and will bring regulatory force to the Protocol requirements. The following comparisons are available to help with identification of changes between the current SIP 3.3 and the revised version and also as a read across against the recently issued SIP 3.1. SIP 3.3 (2014) to draft SIP 3.3           SIP 3.1 (2023) to draft SIP 3.3           The consultation on the revised SIP 3.3 is open until 10 July 2023.

The UK Government has published the Economic Crime Plan 2 2023-2026. Chartered Accountants Ireland as a member of the Accountancy AML Supervisors Group (AASG) has participated in the development of this latest Economic Crime Plan 2. This Plan builds on the foundations of its predecessor with new actions to improve the system-wide response to economic crime through enhanced cooperation between government, law enforcement, supervisory agencies and the private sector. The key outcomes of this Plan are to reduce money laundering and recover more criminal assets, combat kleptocracy and drive down sanction evasion, and cut fraud. Press release available here.

Professional Standards Department has just published Issue 34, of the Regulatory Bulletin. Click on the link provided to access this publication.

The Professional Standards Board Annual Report 2022 has been published this week.  This Annual Report describes the role and responsibilities of the Professional Standards Board and reports on the Board’s activities in 2022 and on the activity of the Professional Standards Department during that year. 

The Institute has recently requested responsible individuals (RIs) to complete their declaration of compliance with audit related CPD obligations for 2022.  The RI CPD declaration must be completed by each RI registered for audit in Ireland and submitted to the Institute by 28 April 2023. The RI CPD declaration is required by IAASA’s CPD Guidelines and by Regulation 3.17A of the Institute’s Audit Regulations, Ireland.    RIs can access guidance in relation to their enhanced CPD obligations, including checklists and specimen CPD records, at the Institute’s resource hub : CPD requirements for RIs.  Any RI requiring information or assistance in this regard should promptly email any queries to ricpdobligations@charteredaccountants.ie

The UK Financial Conduct Authority recently announced that it will collect Treasury’s economic crime levy (Anti-Money Laundering) from July 2023 .An allocation of £300 million between 2023/24-2025/26 generated from the levy  was confirmed in the House of Lords on 27 March 2023. The funding will be allocated for services such as state of the art technology to analyse and share data on threats, hire of new investigators and training of existing ones, new specialist intelligence teams, officers and new financial investigators to analyse suspicious activity reports and a dedicated team to reform the AML supervisory regime .Also ,£20 million will be invested in Companies House and the Insolvency Service to fund the creation of two new intelligence teams and £600,000 to deploy UK experts overseas to raise the global standards on beneficial ownership. This information is provided as resources and information only and nothing in these pages purports to provide professional advice or definitive legal interpretation(s) or opinion(s) on the applicable legislation or legal or other matters referred to in the pages. If the reader is in doubt on any matter in this complex area further legal or other advice must be obtained. While every reasonable care has been taken by the Institute in the preparation of these pages, we do not guarantee the accuracy or veracity of any resource, guidance, information or opinion, or the appropriateness, suitability or applicability of any practice or procedure contained therein. The Institute is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of the resources or information contained in these pages.

  The Irish Minister for Finance announced today that Ireland will declare its interest in hosting the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (“AMLA”). According to the latest information, Ireland joins nine other EU Member States which have already declared an interest in hosting AMLA – Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain. A final decision on location is expected later this year.  The AMLA will be a significant EU institution, tasked with supervision – either directly or jointly with national supervisors – of entities in the financial services sector in the first instance, but eventually also in the non-financial sector. The supervision will be in respect of the entities’ compliance with anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism rules and standards (AMLCFT).You can read more from the Minister’s press announcement here. This information is provided as resources and information only and nothing in these pages purports to provide professional advice or definitive legal interpretation(s) or opinion(s) on the applicable legislation or legal or other matters referred to in the pages. If the reader is in doubt on any matter in this complex area further legal or other advice must be obtained. While every reasonable care has been taken by the Institute in the preparation of these pages, we do not guarantee the accuracy or veracity of any resource, guidance, information or opinion, or the appropriateness, suitability or applicability of any practice or procedure contained therein. The Institute is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of the resources or information contained in these pages.  

In February 2023 the UK government updated its guidance on supplying professional and business services to a person connected with Russia. Readers will recall that during 2022 legislation was passed outlawing the direct or indirect provision of accounting services and audit services to a person connected with Russia. The guidance outlines the two exceptions to the ban on audit services and if an audit firm signed an audit engagement letter prior to 16 December 2022, the firm has until 31 May 2023 to complete the audit. However, the firm must notify the Secretary of State that they will be completing the work by 15 March 2023. While the guidance has a caveat that individual firms must take their own legal advice as to whether their activity falls within scope of the sanctions it also gives guidance on some common audit scenarios. This information is provided as resources and information only and nothing in these pages purports to provide professional advice or definitive legal interpretation(s) or opinion(s) on the applicable legislation or legal or other matters referred to in the pages. If the reader is in doubt on any matter in this complex area further legal or other advice must be obtained. While every reasonable care has been taken by the Institute in the preparation of these pages, we do not guarantee the accuracy or veracity of any resource, guidance, information or opinion, or the appropriateness, suitability or applicability of any practice or procedure contained therein. The Institute is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of the resources or information contained in these pages.  

Regulatory Fee Invoices  The Regulatory fee invoices for 2023 are available online at the Myaccount portal of the website to view, print and pay.  Remittance should be made by 31 March 2023.  If you prefer a copy invoice to be emailed, please email Sandra.smiley@charteredaccountants.ie quoting your individual/firm ID.   Need assistance?   Please email Sandra.smiley@charteredaccountants.ie with your name and member/firm ID along with the query or changes required.   We will issue a revised invoice if this is appropriate. 

A reminder to GB/NI Insolvency Practitioners that revised SIP 3.1 - IVAs is now effective from 1 March 2023. We previously highlighted these changes and a summary is available here.

On 23 February 2023 the Council of the European adopted its tenth package of sanctions against Russia. You can read more details on the tenth package on the European Commission website here a press release on the tenth package here and  Questions and Answers: tenth package of restrictive measures against Russia here.

The Minister for Justice, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, has issued Guidelines under section 37(12) of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (as amended) clarifying those functions in the State that may be considered to be prominent public functions for the purposes of the Act. This will assist firms to identify domestic Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) when conducting their risk assessment.

The National Crime Agency (UK) has published the latest edition of SARs in Action. This edition explains how SARs have helped to identify victims that require safeguarding, seize criminal funds and assets and support multiple investigations.

Introduction Under the Joint Insolvency Committee’s (JIC’s) strategic work plan Statements of Insolvency Practice (SIPs) are subject to periodic review in order to ensure they remain relevant to changing legislation and market conditions. Following consultations with the profession and other stakeholders, including the Insolvency Service, HMRC and major creditor representatives, a revised version of SIP 3.1 – Individual Voluntary Arrangements, has now been approved by the JIC and the Recognised Professional Bodies for implementation with effect from 1 March 2023. Summary of Changes The principal changes in the revised SIP 3.1 relate to the degree of emphasis on the IP’s responsibility to ensure that the debtor has received suitable advice prior to entering an IVA and during its implementation. This includes ensuring that the debtor is aware of all potential debt relief solutions available and that they are provided with adequate time to think about the consequences and the options available before instructing an IVA to be drawn up. Where the debtor comes to the IP through a referrer, the IP should make themselves aware of the nature and extent of the advice previously given to the debtor and collect evidence of such advice. The IP should ascertain whether referrers that have advised the debtor are FCA authorised or exempt for debt advice purposes and document their status. If there are any shortcomings in the advice the IP is required to provide the appropriate advice themselves. The revised SIP 3.1 incudes a greater emphasis on documenting the process, including, where appropriate, advice calls, and on providing information to creditors that is more extensive and useful to them than before. There is also a focus on providing tailored information and advice relevant to the debtor’s particular circumstances rather than relying on generic explanations and standardised texts. The changes between the revised version and the current (2014) version of SIP 3.1 are set out in this comparison document. Publication and Implementation The revised SIP 3.1 will apply to IVAs where the Nominee is appointed on or after 1 March 2023. The revised SIP 3.1 applies in Northern Ireland, England and Wales. The revised SIP 3.1 is available here.

The Institute has issued revised Audit Regulations, UK (effective 5 December 2022), replacing the 1 January 2021 edition of those Regulations.  The revisions to the Audit Regulations, UK primarily reflect the new registration arrangements with the FRC for firms that audit UK public interest entities (PIEs) and which also take effect on 5 December 2022. The FRC consulted in these processes earlier this year and issued their final Regulations and Guidance in July 2022. The link for this can be found on the FRC website. The Institute’s Professional Standards Department is writing directly to the audit compliance principal at each Institute audit firm with UK audit registration with more detail regarding the changes to Audit Regulations, UK. Institute firms with audit registration in both the UK and Ireland comply with both the Audit Regulations, UK and the Audit Regulations, Ireland.   The guidance document comparing the Audit Regulations in the two jurisdictions, is available on the Institute’s website, and has been updated to reflect the revised Audit Regulations, UK. Further changes are expected to be made to the Audit Regulations, UK in 2023 which are likely to reduce the differences between the Audit Regulations Ireland and Audit Regulations UK.