FSA warns audit firms against assigning work to unregistered individuals

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has recently identified cases in which some registered and licensed accounting and auditing firms have engaged individuals who are not registered employees of the firm and assigned them professional duties related to audit and account examination activities.

The FSA cautions against the risks associated with this practice and the resulting breach of the rules, principles and professional standards governing the profession. It calls on all firm owners to refrain from assigning such work to individuals from outside the firm who are not registered as part of its staff. 
In this regard, the FSA stresses that a licence to practise the accounting and auditing profession places direct responsibility on the firm owner for all work carried out under the firm’s name and authority.

It also calls on firm owners to review the status of their employees and the mechanisms used to assign and carry out professional work within their firms, and to take the necessary steps to correct any existing practices that do not comply with the law, standards and regulations governing the profession. Firms should also ensure effective professional supervision over all work issued in their name.

The FSA confirms that it will continue its supervisory and monitoring activities to verify the extent to which accounting and auditing firms comply with the relevant legal and professional requirements. Any proven cases involving the practices referred to above will be addressed in accordance with the applicable legal procedures and provisions, without prejudice to any other liabilities that may arise.