AADB launches consultation on sanctions guidance for AADB tribunals under its Accountancy Scheme

News types: Guidance

Published: 18 April 2012

AADB PN 47

The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board, an operating body of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), today publishes a consultation document on guidance it proposes to issue to AADB tribunals on determining sanctions in disciplinary cases under its Accountancy Scheme.

The Board considers that issuing sanctions guidance to AADB Tribunals is desirable for the following reasons:

  • it has a responsibility to support AADB Tribunals which have commented in the past on the absence of guidance in this area; and

  • guidance will help ensure that Tribunals take consistent account of the need for sanctions to be proportionate to the misconduct and all the circumstances of the particular case and to act as an appropriate deterrent to future misconduct.

The guidance includes proposals for calculating fines, which in some cases is likely to lead to higher fines than has been the case in the past. It is designed to promote clarity, accessibility and predictability for all parties.

Timothy Walker, AADB Chairman, said:

“The time is right for a genuine debate about the appropriate level of sanction for professional misconduct by accountants. This consultation document sets out the issues. We welcome comments from all concerned.”


Responses to the consultation are requested by 11th July 2012. Read the consultation document Sanctions Guidance to Tribunals.
Notes to Editors
  1. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is the UK’s independent regulator responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment.
  2. The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board ("AADB") is the independent, investigative and disciplinary body for accountants and actuaries in the UK. The AADB is responsible for operating and administering independent disciplinary schemes for these professions. The Accountancy Scheme covers Members of the following accountants' professional bodies:- the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The Actuarial Scheme covers Members of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (formerly the Institute of Actuaries) and the Faculty of Actuaries (prior to its merger with the Institute of Faculty of Actuaries).
  3. The focus of the AADB is on cases which raise important issues affecting the public interest; other disciplinary cases will continue to be dealt with by the relevant professional body. The purpose of an investigation is to determine whether there is evidence of misconduct on the part of Members or Member Firms of the professional bodies. An investigation does not always mean that an allegation has been made or that there is evidence of misconduct on the part of the Member or Member Firm involved.
  4. Disciplinary complaints filed following an AADB investigation are heard by an independent Tribunal which will normally sit in public. If the Tribunal upholds a complaint, there is a wide range of sanctions which it can impose including an unlimited fine, exclusion from membership of a professional body covered by one of the Schemes and withdrawal of practising certificates or licences.

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