Scots accountants face new review rules.
ICAS council is considering plans to extend quality review measures
Quality reviews launched a year ago by ICAS for Scottish accountancy firms could soon be extended to all individual institute members in practice.
The non-statutory reviews, introduced to safeguard the institute’s CA brand, are aimed at monitoring working practices in Scottish firms.
But the institute’s council is now considering proposals to extend the reviews to all individuals with a practising certificates.
ICAS chief executive David Brew told Accountancy Age: ‘We’ve been looking at our quality reviews and whether the target audience should be extended.’
Stumbling blocks could arise through funding issues and assessing practitioners working in a firm which is regulated by a different accountancy body.
‘The last thing we want to do is impose any costly regime on people subject to other forms of quality assurance,’ said Brew.
Last year ICAS reviewed 173 small firms with the result of 85% having acceptable or above-standard working practices.
The ultimate sanction of the programme is the withdrawal of the practitioner’s certificate.
For more information on ICAS quality reviews visit www.icas.org.uk.