by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Jun 5, 2019 | Blog, News
As we wrote in a recent blog on the topic of AML supervision, the report by OPBAS – the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision slates the accountancy and legal professions for lax regulation of their sectors.
Although this is a UK regulator , its views are influential with regulators elsewhere. For accountants there is likely to be a tougher enforcement approach taken in future as a result of this stinging report. OPBAS found that in 2018, only half of professional bodies issued fines for AML failings. It was even less in 2017 at 27%.
OPBAS has called for the Professional Body Supervisors (PBSs) to share information as a way of cracking down on covert activity. Almost half of the 22 bodies do that now, but OPBAS called for 100% cooperation by all bodies.
Some professional bodies have no resources allocated to intelligence sharing while others have no clear responsibilities or systematic approach to using intelligence to inform decisions or supervisory and enforcement work. There was also evidence that suspicious activity reports had not been raised by the PBSs when they should have been.
OPBAS has called on all PBSs to undertake risk-based supervision of the professions i.e. focused on the riskiest types of business or clients like tax, conveyancing, company formation. The watchdog says this must be properly resourced, with leadership from the top, and robust enforcement outcomes, along with a positive uptake in intelligence sharing.
Read that full OPBAS report here. To get prepared for the more robust AML visits that are surely coming see our latest Anti-Money Money Laundering blog here.
Also watch out for our new fully updated AML Policies & Procedures Manual coming in June 2019 – fully updated for the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts, 2010 to 2018 which came into force on 26 November 2018.
For on-demand webinars on AML and developments in Investment Property Accounting, FRS 105, Common Errors in FRS 102 Accounting and the latest on FRS 105 and company law, visit our online webinar training website. Once viewing is completed customers will receive a CPD Certificate confirming their learning.
by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | May 29, 2019 | News
In a recent UK report by OPBAS – the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision it accuses many professional body supervisors (PBSs) of failing to supervise standards robustly, partly for fear of upsetting members and because they believe money laundering is not an issue for firms.
This is the first review by OPBAS of the 22 anti-money laundering (AML) supervisors in accountancy and law, which says the results show ‘a very variable picture’.
The OPBAS view is that the accountancy sector and many smaller professional bodies focus more on representing their members rather than robustly supervising standards. OPBAS say that this because they don’t believe – or don’t want to believe – that there is any money laundering in their sector.
There will be more on the report in future blogs. Read that full report here.
Also watch out for our new fully updated AML Policies & Procedures Manual coming in June 2019 – fully updated for the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts, 2010 to 2018 which came into force on 26 November 2018.
For on-demand webinars on AML and developments in Investment Property Accounting, FRS 105, Common Errors in FRS 102 Accounting and the latest on FRS 105 and company law, visit our online webinar training website. Once viewing is completed customers will receive a CPD Certificate confirming their learning.
by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Mar 19, 2019 | Blog, News
Challenge your knowledge on the Solicitors Accounts) Regulations 2014 with this short quiz:
- ‘I received a cheque from a client on the balancing date, the client ledger card was updated to show receipt of the money, but the cheque was not lodged to the bank until two weeks later. The reporting accountant’s report may show this as an outstanding lodgement.’ True or False?
- Where a solicitor acting for the purchaser receives monies from the purchaser’s lender and the cheque is drawn in the solicitor’s name and the proceeds are required to be transferred to the vendor “without delay”, the cheque may be transferred to the vendor without being lodged to the Client Account. True or False?
For the answers to these and all your other questions – see our on-demand webinar here: Solicitors Accounts Regulations 2014.
For on-demand webinars on other developments in Investment Property Accounting, FRS 105, Common Errors in FRS 102 Accounting and the latest on FRS 105 and company law, visit our new online webinar training website. Once viewing is completed customers will receive a CPD Certificate confirming their learning.
by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Nov 21, 2017 | News
In our last blog about preparing the reporting accountants report under the ROI Law Society Solicitors Accounts Regulations, 2014, we mentioned that the work involved is a quite onerous and responsible task, and carries with it the requirement for compulsory professional indemnity insurance at a minimum of €500,000.
Many accountants ask themselves the question – would the quality of my work be good enough to allow me to be alert to the following types of scenario that have occurred in legal firms?
- A partner in a law firm stole more than €750,000 from client’s accounts to finance the purchase of land, another payment was for a car worth €5,000, more was used to pay off credit card debts and pay a horse trainer. The sums taken ranged from €400 to more than €250,000, between 2002 and 2008.
- Another solicitor ran up a deficit of €2.4m on Clients’ funds by using money from the estate of a deceased person, along with a loan of €1.5 million from AIB against four properties and used the funds to gamble on ‘contracts for difference’.
To find out more about how watch for these and similar situations, come along to our next seminar on the Solicitors Accounts Regulations on Wednesday 29 November 2017 at 9am to 12.30pm. We will be joined by Seamus McGrath, FCA, Head of Financial Regulation at the Law Society of Ireland.
Wednesday 27 November 2017 9am to 12.30pm (Registration from 8.30am)
Location: Talbot Hotel Stillorgan (old Stillorgan Park Hotel), County Dublin
Price: €105 per person or €280 for three from the same office.
Delegate materials provided. Free parking at hotel.
Booking and further details at this link
by John McCarthy Consulting Ltd. | Oct 11, 2017 | News
Many accountants are involved in preparing the Reporting Accountants Report to the Law Society. It is quite an onerous and responsible task, and carries with it the requirement for compulsory professional indemnity insurance at a minimum of €500,000.
When accounting firms have a monitoring inspection from their regulatory body, it is quite often the files of their solicitor clients that cause the greatest difficulty during the review.
This upcoming seminar will cover several topics of interest to Reporting Accountants. For example, can you answer the following questions from your solicitor client?
‘I received a cheque from a client on the balancing date, the client ledger card was updated to show receipt of the money but the cheque was not lodged to the bank until two weeks later, why can’t the reporting accountant’s report, show this as an outstanding lodgement?’
‘Can a relative act as a reporting accountant?’
To find out the answers to these and similar questions, come along to our next seminar on the Solicitors Accounts Regulations. We will be joined by Seamus McGrath, FCA, Head of FInancial Regulation at the Law Society of Ireland.
This course will include
- Planning, executing and completing the assignment;
- Structuring the letter of engagement;
- Choosing sample sizes;
- A reminder of some key definitions and deadlines under the Regulations;
- How to manage mixed monies;
- Common problems the Law Society finds during reviews;
- The rules are for transferring money in/out of office/client/executor/insolvency accounts;
- The requirements for controlled and non-controlled trusts;
- Common mistakes and breaches and how best to avoid them;
- The letter of representation;
- Solicitors professional indemnity matters; and
- Money laundering issues in solicitors’ firms.
Wednesday 27 November 2017 9am to 12.30pm (Registration from 8.30am)
Location: Talbot Hotel Stillorgan (old Stillorgan Park Hotel), County Dublin
Price: €105 per person or €280 for three from the same office.
Delegate materials provided. Free parking at hotel.
Booking and further details at this link
