- UK AUDIT EXEMPTION LIMITS INCREASE TO £1,000,000 AND SET TO
RISE TO
£4,800,000 IN THE FUTURE
Things are changing very fast, thanks to the Internet, and the old power structures are crumbling away rapidly. Two developments in spring 2000 impact ACCA, the second tier UK accountancy professional body:
April 2000:
Dept of Trade & Industry announced that the Audit Exemption turnover
limit is increased as of 31 July 2000 from £350,000 to £1,000,000.
The Minister said it is to rise to £4,800,000 soon - some guess that
would be before the next UK General Elections in about 18 months.
May 2000:
Financial Services Authority announced that Insurance Broker and other
Financial Services work will be regulated direct by the FSA and so is being
withdrawn from RSBs professional bodies including ACCA, The Law Society,
ICAEW, etc.
The consequences for ACCA include:
1 - ACCA's Monitoring Inspectors will find a significant reduction
in number of visits to audit firms regulated by ACCA in respect of audit
and/or financial services work.
2 - ACCA's Legal Department and ACCA's notorious Disciplinary machinery
will have less ACCA members to "discipline" - Austin Mitchell MP calls
ACCA's methods "macho" to say the least! This would result in less income
for ACCA in disciplinary fines, less disciplinary work for ACCA's lawyers,
one of the largest law firm in the UK and reduced fear for ACCA member
firms.
3 - fewer ACCA audit firms will need expensive Hot Review and Cold
Review of their audit files in order to retain their existing company clients.
That raises the following questions:
Q - How many ACCA registered firms will need an Audit license after
31 July 2000?
Q - How many ACCA audit firms have Ltd Co clients with turnover exceeding
£1,000,000? soon to rise to £4,800,000?
Q - How will ACCA qualification look with fewer and fewer ACCA auditors?
Q - Will ACCA's curious proxy vote system continue to be as useful?
As if this was not enough, Office of Fair Trading www.oft.gov.uk
are inviting comments from the public whether UK professions hamper competition
in the UK. This consultation closes in about three weeks - send your comments
now! OFT's brief is to present a report to two of the
most powerful Ministries in the UK, the DTI and the Treasury.