INTHEBLACK June/July 2024 - Magazine - Page 22
F E AT U R E
“If the Australian Government
does not consider the existing
obligations of professional
accountants in their design
of the AML regime, it will be
unnecessarily onerous for
smaller accounting firms –
and the cost of compliance
will outweigh the benefits
of tackling money laundering.”
GAVAN ORD, CPA AUSTRALIA
READ
CPA Australia’s
joint submission on
the modernisation
of Australia’s
anti-money
laundering regime,
including tranche
two entities
22 INTHEBLACK June/July 2024
ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
CPA Australia’s business investment
and international lead, Gavan Ord, says
accountants are already obliged to comply
with a range of legal, professional and ethical
standards, many of which cross over with
AML/CTF reporting requirements.
“We would like to see that recognised
in the design of the regime for
professional accountants in Australia.
Avoiding such duplication should reduce
the regulatory burden on professional
accountants, but still achieve the policy
objective of reducing money laundering,”
Ord says.
“The overwhelming majority of
accounting firms have fewer than 10
employees, so it is important that the
regime is designed with this in mind.
A regime designed for Australia’s
Big Four banks does not work for a small
accounting practice.
“What we have been encouraging
the government to do is to focus the
AML regime on high-risk areas and
functions, rather than applying the same
requirements to a suburban accounting
practice as they do to a large bank.
“If the Australian Government does
not consider the existing obligations
of professional accountants in their
design of the AML regime, it will be
unnecessarily onerous for smaller
accounting firms – and the cost of
compliance will outweigh the benefits
of tackling money laundering.
“Accountants understand the need to
tackle money laundering, and they understand
the need to reduce the risk that they will be
used for money laundering.
“However, if the compliance requirements
associated with AML are not tailored to
the size and risks associated with small
accounting practices, the regime will be
burden them unfairly.”
In New Zealand, accountants have been
a key part of the AML/CTF reporting
framework since October 2018.
