Blog
Kingsley Napley’s Medical Negligence Team ‘walks together’ with the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity
Sharon Burkill
7 February 2021
Top tips for managing an accountancy disciplinary investigation
As an accountant or accountancy technician hopefully you will proceed through your career without becoming involved in any sort of disciplinary proceedings. However, you are not immune from being the subject of a complaint from a client to your regulatory body. Whether you are regulated by the ICAEW, ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA, ICAS or the AAT, there is always the possibility of an unwelcome approach by the disciplinary team of your regulator. Each regulator has a duty, in the public interest, to investigate complaints against its members. High profile complaints will usually be investigated by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which has a similar duty to consider all matters referred to it, with a view to deciding whether disciplinary proceedings are required.
2 February 2021
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement – can UK qualified accountants still work in the EU?
Julie Matheson and Lucinda Soon consider the implications of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement on UK accountants providing services in the EU.
21 January 2021
Beckwith v SRA – are there implications for the regulation of professional accountants who face sexual misconduct allegations?
In our fourth blog in our series on Beckwith v Solicitors Regulation Authority [2020] EWHC 3231 (Admin), we turn our attention to consider what impact, if any, this landmark decision might have on the regulation of professional accountants. While the case turned on some very specific features relating to the regulation of solicitors as contained in the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) Principles and Code of conduct, some parts of the judgment may have more general application.
20 January 2021
Post-Beckwith – where to now for sexual misconduct cases?
In the two years preceding Ryan Beckwith’s appeal to the High Court, the SRA pursued a handful of other sexual misconduct cases before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (Tribunal). These cases are varied and fact-specific and include sexual misconduct in and relating to the workplace and conduct outside of work.
19 January 2021
Where have we reached on costs in proceedings before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal post Beckwith?
Regulatory investigations across all sectors are increasing in complexity, with a corresponding increase in the size of the cost applications made by regulators upon successful prosecution. For solicitors facing investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’), the costs associated with prosecutions before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (‘SDT’) have made the headlines recently for their size. In Beckwith, for example, the Divisional Court referred to the SRA’s costs of c.£340,000 as “alarming.”
