A primary aim of ICAS is to safeguard the reputation of the profession by maintaining public confidence in the accountancy profession. The Institute addresses this aim by setting high standards of integrity and professional competence and by ensuring, through periodic quality reviews of members’ practices, that these standards are maintained.
Complaints Procedures
ICAS will investigate complaints that indicate that the member may be guilty of either professional misconduct or professional incompetence.
The following links will take you to the relevant section, where you will be able to print the section if you wish:
ICAS moves to open hearings
Privy Council approval has been granted to allow hearings of the Discipline Tribunal of ICAS to be in public. Click below for further information:
Public Interest Cases
Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB)
The Accountancy & Actuarial Discipline Board ("AADB") is the independent, investigative and disciplinary body for accountants and actuaries in the UK. The AADB is responsible for the independent investigation and, where appropriate, hearing by disciplinary tribunal of public interest cases. The arrangements for the investigation and discipline of public interest complaints are governed by the AADB Scheme: www.frc.org.uk/aadb
ICAS is required to be part of the AADB Scheme by virtue of the Companies Act 2006.
Under the scheme, the relevant Participant Body who has a member or member firm caught up in the investigation is responsible for the investigation costs and, if appropriate, the costs associated with the hearing of a formal complaint before an AADB Discipline Tribunal. Currently ICAS has several cases listed on the AADB site, all of which were called-in for investigation by the AADB in the second half of 2009.
Members and Member Firms engaged in the financial services sector
Find out how the Institute currently assesses the conduct of Members and Member Firms who are engaged in the banking or financial services sector:
Failure to Respond
The Investigation and Professional Conduct Enforcement Committee (“IPCEC”) is increasingly encountering situations where members have failed to respond to ICAS correspondence, either in relation to a complaint or prior to a referral being made by another regulatory committee. The Institute’s Rules require a Member to co-operate with the Committee and its secretariat in relation to any investigation and to respond to all professional correspondence in a prompt and adequate manner. In particular, Members are under an obligation to comply with requests for information made by ICAS which relate to regulatory functions and responsibilities. The information is requested so that ICAS can fulfill its obligations as a regulatory body.
IPCEC views seriously any failure to respond which affects ICAS’s ability to comply with its obligations as a regulatory body, particularly as this failure undermines the system of self-regulation that exists within the accountancy profession. IPCEC has recently approved a robust approach to dealing with such cases.