Regulatory penalties

C L Middlebrook (Middlebrooks Business Recovery and Advice)

In terms of Regulation 5.33 of the Insolvency Regulations, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,000 to the Insolvency Practitioner Mrs C L Middlebrook (Middlebrooks Business Recovery and Advice), in respect that the Practitioner has acknowledged that they failed to comply with  Insolvency Regulation 4.12 in that insolvency work had not been undertaken in full compliance of all relevant UK legislation, standards or regulations, as there had been unauthorised pre-appointment remuneration drawn on two cases and failure to comply with Statement of Insolvency Practice 11.

Date: 11 March 2022

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations and Guidance effective from 1 January 2020, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,500 to the audit-registered firm of The Kelvin Partnership Limited (Firm Number F0745), in respect that the Firm acknowledged that it failed to comply with an external cold file review condition imposed by the Authorisation Committee under Audit Regulations 7.01 of the Audit Regulations and Guidance.

Date: 14 February 2022

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations and Guidance effective from 1 January 2020, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,500 to the audit registered firm of Milton Avis LLP (Firm Number F3783), in respect that the Firm acknowledged that it failed to comply with an external hot file review condition imposed by the Authorisation Committee under Audit Regulations 7.01 of the Audit Regulations and Guidance.

Date: 2 July 2021

In terms of Regulation 5.23 of the Public Practice Regulations, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,000 to the firm of Stewart Accounting Services Ltd (Firm Number F3865), in respect that the Firm has acknowledged that it failed to comply with Sections 4; 9; and 11 of the Client Money Regulations.

Date: 8 December 2020

In terms of Regulation 5.23 of the Public Practice Regulations, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,000 to the firm of Annette Ferguson Ltd (Firm Number F3499), in respect that the Firm has acknowledged that it failed to comply with Section 4 of the Professional Indemnity Insurance Regulations.

Date: 30 September 2020

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations 2017, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied regulatory penalties in the sums of £1,000 and £500 to the audit-registered firm of Ronan AMR Limited (Firm Number F2360), in respect that the Firm has acknowledged that it failed to comply with Audit Regulation 2.10A, which states that: 'A Registered Auditor must provide such returns, statements or other information as considered necessary and in a form decided by the Registration Committee’' in that it (a) did not adhere to a previous condition imposed by the Committee; and (b) omitted an audit client from the audit client list and Firms Annual Return provided to ICAS.

The Firm has acknowledged that, in relation to this, it also failed to comply with the following Audit Regulations:

• Audit Regulation 3.03, which states that: 'A Registered Auditor must consider its independence and ability to perform the audit properly and record this before it accepts appointment or reappointment as auditor';
• Audit Regulation 3.05, which states that ‘A Registered Auditor must always conduct audit work properly and with integrity’;
• Audit Regulation 3.10, which states that: 'A Registered Auditor must comply with the auditing standards and the quality control standards';
• Audit Regulation 3.17, which states that ‘A Registered Auditor must make arrangements so that all principals and employees doing audit work are, and continue to be, competent to carry out the audits for which they are responsible or employed’ and
• Audit Regulation 3.19, which states that:' A Registered Auditor must make sure all principals and employees involved in audit work are aware of and comply with these regulations, the Act, any relevant rules and regulations issued under the Act and any procedures established by the firm'.

Date: 10 July 2020

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations 2017, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £500 to the audit-registered firm of Watson & Company (Firm Number F2734), in respect that the Firm has acknowledged that it failed to comply with Audit Regulation 6.06, which states that: 'In carrying out its responsibilities under regulation 6.02, the Registration Committee, any sub-committee, the registering Institute's staff, or a monitoring unit, may, to the extent necessary for the review of a firm's audit work or how it is complying or intends to comply with these regulations, require a Registered Auditor or applicant for registration to provide any information, held in whatever form (including electronic), about the firm or its clients and to allow access to the firm's systems and personnel' in that it omitted an audit client from the audit client list provided to ICAS Audit Monitoring during an audit monitoring visit.

The Firm has acknowledged that, in relation to that aforementioned audit client, it also failed to comply with the following Audit Regulations:

• Audit Regulation 3.03, which states that: 'A Registered Auditor must consider its independence and ability to perform the audit properly and record this before it accepts appointment or reappointment as auditor':
• Audit Regulation 3.10, which states that: 'A Registered Auditor must comply with the auditing standards and the quality control standards'; and
• Audit Regulation 3.19, which states that:' A Registered Auditor must make sure all principals and employees involved in audit work are aware of and comply with these regulations, the Act, any relevant rules and regulations issued under the Act and any procedures established by the firm'.

Date: 10 July 2020

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations 2017, notice is hereby given that the ICAS Authorisation Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,000 to the audit-registered firm of James Milne & Co. (Firm Number F0374, Aberdeen & Inverurie), in respect that the Firm acknowledged that it failed to comply with an external hot file review condition imposed by the Authorisation Committee under Audit Regulations 7.01 of the Audit Regulations and Guidance 2017, in so far as the firm signed three audit reports in the period 13 September 2017 to 2 February 2018 without the audits being subject to an external hot file review, despite acceptance of a Committee Hot File Review Condition on 8 September 2017.

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations (2008), notice is hereby given that ICAS' Audit Registration Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £500 to the audit-registered firm of Cahill Jack Associates Ltd (Firm Number 3218), in respect that as Registered Auditor, the firm has acknowledged that it failed to comply with Regulation 6.06 which states that: 'In carrying out its responsibilities under regulation 6.02, the Registration Committee, any sub-committee, the registering Institute's staff, or a monitoring unit, may, to the extent necessary for the review of a firm's audit work or how it is complying or intends to comply with these regulations, require a Registered Auditor or applicant for registration to provide any information, held in whatever form (including electronic), about the firm or its clients and to allow access to the firm's systems and personnel' in that it omitted a non-statutory audit client from the audit client list provided to ICAS Audit Monitoring during an audit monitoring visit.   

The Firm has acknowledged that, in relation to that aforementioned audit client, it also failed to comply with the following Audit Regulations:   

• Regulation 3.03, which states that: 'A Registered Auditor must consider its independence and ability to perform the audit properly and record this before it accepts appointment or reappointment as auditor':    
• Regulation 3.10, which states that: 'A Registered Auditor must comply with the auditing standards and the quality control standards'; and  
• Regulation 3.19, which states that:' A Registered Auditor must make sure all principals and employees involved in audit work are aware of and comply with these regulations, the Act, any relevant rules and regulations issued under the Act and any procedures established by the firm'.

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations (2008), notice is hereby given that ICAS' Audit Registration Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £750 to the audit-registered firm of Anova (Wick), in respect that the Firm has admitted that Mr Simon Hoy, a principal of the firm, signedthe audit report of an audit client when he had not applied to be a Responsible Individual in breach of Regulation 4.04 of the Audit Regulations and Guidance 2008 which states that 'Only responsible individuals can be responsible for an audit and sign an audit report'.

In terms of Regulation 5.1 of the CPD Regulations 2012, notice is hereby given that the Continuing Professional Development Regulatory Committee has applied regulatory penalties to seven ICAS Members in accordance with Regulation 4 of the Regulations. The regulatory penalties have been applied in response to the Members failing to: 

• Submit on time a self-certification of their CPD compliance in their Annual Return; which failure represents a breach of Regulation 2.4 of the CPD Regulations 2012; and 
• Produce their 2012 CPD Record to the CPD Regulatory Committee on request; which failure represents a breach of Regulation 2.2 of the CPD Regulations 2012.

In this instance, the Committee has decided that the application of the regulatory penalties shall be publicised on an anonymous basis.

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations (2008), notice is hereby given that ICAS' Audit Registration Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,500 to the audit-registered firm of Leopold Accountancy Group Limited (Firm Number F2447, Edinburgh), in respect that the Firm acknowledged that it failed to comply with Audit Regulations 2.03, 2.10A and 3.11 of the Audit Regulations and Guidance 2008, in so far as

• the firm was reorganised in 2012 by a change of shareholdings without notifying ICAS in 2013 and 2014 Annual Returns as required by Audit Regulation 2.10A;
• the parent company of the audit registered firm was not audit registered as required by Audit Regulation 2.03b, and 50% of the shareholdings in the firm were held by a person who was not audit qualified.  Seven audit reports were signed as an ineligible audit firm; and
• there was no retention of audit working papers for one audit engagement.

Date: 18 April 2016

In terms of Regulation 7.14 (b) of the Audit Regulations (2008), notice is hereby given that ICAS' Audit Registration Committee has applied a regulatory penalty of £1,000 to the audit-registered firm of GD Auditing Limited (Firm Number F2751, Livingston), in respect that the Firm acknowledged that it failed to comply with Audit Regulations 2.03b and 2.10A of the Audit Regulations and Guidance 2008, in so far as:

• firm was reorganised by a change of shareholdings and firm name without notifying ICAS in successive Annual Returns as required by Audit Regulation 2.10A; and
• parent company of the audit registered firm was not audit registered as required by Audit Regulation 2.03b, and seven audit reports were signed as an ineligible audit firm.

Date: 13 May 2016