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Institute dismisses accountant's poverty plea

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8th Oct 2015
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A retired Merseyside accountant’s claim that he is unable to pay the fines and costs issued to him because of insufficient means has been dismissed by an ICAEW appeal committee.

In his appellant’s letter, Francis Birchall ACA stated that as he is retired, “the sums that he was ordered to pay are excessive, extortionate and beyond his means”.

Birchall was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay costs of £3,650 in February this year. Between 24 January 2012 and 6 February 2012, Birchall paid clients’ money into his personal bank account on 4 occasions totalling £8,762.64 contrary to paragraph 10 of the Clients’ Money Regulations.

Birchall also failed to respond in writing to issues raised by during an ICAEW quality assurance visit to his practice. Subsequent to that, he failed to comply with a written assurance he had made that he would notify clients in writing of the basis of fees and the complaints procedures.

Birchall did not attend the appeal hearing (or his original hearing in February), stating that he was not in the financial position to make the journey.

Commenting on the allegation of the fines being extortionate, the appeal committee said, “We consider the fine to have been in accordance with the guidelines on sentence, to have been neither excessive nor extortionate, and indeed more appropriately described as lenient.”

The committee was also unconvinced by Birchall’s alleged inability to pay. “If that were established in fact, it could certainly be taken into account by this appeal panel,” read the disciplinary report. “However the appellant has given scant disclosure of his means, indeed limited to current income and his current bank account.

“He has ignored a number of requests to disclose his capital assets, including in particular the value of his home in The Wirral.”

The committee noted that as a retired accountant, Birchall would have been cognisant of “the importance of disclosing his capital assets if he is to sustain his allegation that he is unable to pay the fine and costs imposed”.

In an otherwise quiet month, the investigation committee made two consent orders.

Philippos Soteri FCA was severely reprimanded, fined £7,500 and pay costs of £2,692. Soteri misinformed a client on their tax obligations. He also filed an incorrect 2009-10 self-assessment tax return because he had included the employment income from the 2008-2009 tax year.

With the same client, Soteri sought a first tier tribunal on their behalf without their consent, failed to inform them on the basis of his fees, and failed to respond to their letter of complaint.

In the other case, Darren Harding ACA was severely reprimanded, fined £5,750 and made to pay costs of £3,942. Harding was found guilty of multiple breaches of International Standards on Auditing (UK & Ireland) 230 ‘Audit Documentation’.

Harding’s firm failed to assemble the audit documentation in an audit file and complete the administrative process of assembling the final audit file on a timely basis after the date of the auditor’s report.

Harding also failed to plan the audit so that the engagement was performed in an effective manner and failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to be able to draw reasonable conclusions on which to base the audit opinion.

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By DexterDog
13th Oct 2015 12:59

ICAEW protection racket

When it comes to lining their own pockets the ICAEW are absolutely brutal.  Clearly they expected a retired member to sell his house to pay their fines.

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