Public Consultation on proposed amendments to the Accountants Act (2012)

Detailed description

1. The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) invites members of the public to provide feedback and suggestions on the proposed amendments to the Accountants Act.

Background

2. As Singapore seeks to become a leading Global-Asia Financial and Business Hub, it is essential that we continue to build on our reputation for having a pro-business and trusted regulatory environment.  It is therefore crucial that our public accountancy profession, as auditors of financial statements, continue to engender a high degree of confidence from investors and businesses.  Maintaining this confidence requires rigorous, independent regulation of audit firms and auditors (i.e. public accountants).

3. The last significant review of the Accountants Act was in 2004.  It is therefore timely to review the Act. This will ensure that the regulatory framework remains relevant and that we are able to keep pace with international developments. The proposed amendments aim to promote audit quality, maintain confidence in audits and protect public interest. 

4. ACRA has developed the proposed amendments in consultation with key stakeholders, namely public accountants, audit firms, professional accountancy bodies, aspiring public accountants, universities and audit committee members.  Throughout 2011, ACRA issued two stakeholder consultation documents and held eight focus group sessions, receiving about 50 written submissions in the process.

Proposed amendments

5. The key proposals in the consultation paper aim to:

   • Ensure good quality control frameworks for the audit and review of entities that have a significant public interest;

   • Enhance ACRA’s ability to inspect audit quality controls and policies of audit firms and require audit firms to improve, where necessary;

   • Make practical experience in key audit functions a core requirement for registration as a public accountant;

   • Clarify the scope of ACRA’s regulation;

   • Enhance ACRA’s ability to respond swiftly to protect public interest and uphold public confidence, through the establishment of a Special Investigation process.

6. ACRA welcomes all members of the public to give their feedback and share their views in forging a a robust regulatory framework for public accountancy in Singapore.

Period of consultation

7. The public consultation exercise ends on 4 July 2012.

Feedback channel

8. Please send your feedback by e-mail to: ACRA_Consultation@acra.gov.sg. Please indicate ‘Public Consultation on Review of the Accountants Act’ in the subject line.

Consultation document

9. The consultation paper is available for download here [PDF, 663 KB] or on the REACH consultation portal.

Click here [PDF, 86 KB] for the press release.