JSCCA News

Practising Certificate Amnesty ends 31 March 2025

 
Each structure needs to be considered if a principal would require a Practising Certificate. As the JSCCA we understand duties undertaken by principals in private equity funds, real estate funds, venture capital, pension schemes and family offices would not typically require a Practising Certificate however this should be verified by the individual as the JSCCA cannot make any legal statements or provide full clarity. The ICAEW respects and recognises the AML regime in Jersey and Guernsey and therefore would place reliance on the AML Regime of the regulator in such aspects of AML (and would supervise IOM for those firms whom the ICAEW is the appointed supervisor by the firm) and dispensation as appropriate can granted from the PII ICAEW requirements recognising the need for insurance for Client Monies under the regulator for example. The ICAEW granted a further period of grace till 31 March 2025 to allow for any transition arrangements to be made under a revised position. Details of the position can are below, however if in doubt please do speak to the ICAEW or your member firm.
 
ICAEW members:
We wrote to you previously on the matter of ICAEW members requiring Practicing Certificates. This further note is to ensure you are aware that in December 2024 the ICAEW published a statement covering the applicability of the new Practicing Certificate requirements for ICAEW members in the Crown Dependencies who are Principals of firms that provide accountancy services that are more than "incidental" to their core service offering such as a third party fund administrator, along with guidance on how to assess “incidental” accountancy services LINK.

The guidance on when ICAEW members meet the “Principal” criteria includes a: statutory director; de facto director; shadow director; or members held out as Principals where there are no professional accountants in positions of seniority over them within the organisation.

The previous ambiguity over whether you are exempt through being employed within a firm regulated by the JFSC has been removed: “ICAEW members who are principals in financial services regulated firms must hold a PC if the firm also provides accountancy services, other than incidentally. This is the case regardless of whether the firm is in the Crown Dependencies or mainland UK.”

It is important for members to understand that requiring a Practicing Certificate brings ICAEW Members into scope of the ICAEW’s Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) Regulations. Where an employer already has PII required under a financial services regulator, the firm can apply to the ICAEW for dispensation of the ICAEW’s PII regulations for its ICAEW employees who are Principals and required to hold Practicing Certificates.

Similarly holding a Practicing Certificate brings members into scope of the ICAEW’s Practice Assurance regulations under which ICAEW Quality Assurance Department’s practice assurance monitoring reviews can occur. The ICAEW has stressed that it will adopt an appropriate approach that seeks to avoid duplication of any regulatory oversight already provided by another regulator.

There is an amnesty in place until 31 March 2025 for Principals of financial services regulated firms, meaning that such ICAEW members who don’t currently hold a Practicing Certificate have until 31 March 2025 to obtain one without the failure to hold a Practicing Certificate being treated as a disciplinary matter by the ICAEW.

This is a complex area and, if in doubt, ICAEW members should consult the ICAEW Technical Advisory Service steam for support in reaching a conclusion by calling +44 (0)1908 248 250.

ACCA members:
The requirements for when ACCA members are required to hold practicing certificates appear to be very closely aligned to those for ICAEW members, albeit with a little more flexibility regarding the provision solely of book-keeping services.  The ACCA released an updated guidance document in January 2025 covering when practicing certificates are required.  LINK

The appendices are particularly useful given the range of example scenarios presented.  The guidance document states that if you wish to clarify your specific situation, you should contact ACCA’s Authorisation Department at authorisation@accaglobal.com. 
 
Members of other accountancy bodies:
We encourage members who are qualified through other accountancy bodies to also reconsider whether they have met the criteria for requiring a practicing certificate and to make contact with their institutes if in any doubt.
 
Documents
 
The two documents available on the links below explain firstly, the application of ICAEW regulations to members in the Crown Dependencies (in so far as they are relevant to practice assurance), and a second document that provides more detail on what would form part of a PA visit to a firm in the CDs. The latter document would be provided to a firm in advance of a PA visit so that they know what to expect and can prepare accordingly.

Application of ICAEW Regulations

Memo Practice Assurance
 
There is a PII dispensation for CD and this is now live and can be found on the Practising Certificates hub on the ICAEW website Application for Dispensation.
 

The ICAEW PA visit would consider any engagement where the ICAEW member principal leads on the accountancy work for the client. This would be the case whether the ICAEW member principal had signed the engagement letter, or another principal was signatory.