CA ANZ calls for quick passage of AML/CTF amendments
The professional body has urged the government to pass the anti-money laundering reforms by early next year to enable adequate time for preparation.
The legislation for the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing amendments must be finalised as soon as possible to ensure there is sufficient time for implementation, Chartered Accountants ANZ (CA ANZ) has told the government.
Speaking in a recent Senate Committee hearing, CA ANZ business reform leader Karen McWilliams said the accounting body would like to see the rules finalised by very early next year, which would provide roughly just over a year for implementation.
McWilliams warned that if the finalisation of the expanded regime drags well into next year this will restrict implementation time and limit the guidance and support that can be provided to accounting professionals.
"The guidance and all that other support and education cannot be properly developed until we actually have the rules in place," she said.
"That's going to be a really key piece for us, [the ability] to be able to talk to our members and say 'this is what the existing obligations are and this is how they relate to the AML requirements and these are the kind of extra things that you need to do'.
"We will only have that clarity once the rules are finalised."
McWilliams said while the accounting profession can make reasonable predictions around what will be the fundamental requirements of the reforms, there may be nuances in terms of how the existing professional and ethical obligations of members are recognised in the drafting of the laws.
She noted that the bill refers to requirements for reporting entities to take reasonable steps to establish that the customer is who they claim to be and to identify the ML/TF risk of the customer through customer due diligence.
"That enables our members to also consider the kind of steps they take under Customer Due Diligence in relation to the ATO's know your client obligations," she said.
"It's those kind of areas that we would seek to try and clarify."
Speaking in the same hearing, CPA Australia regulations and standards leader Belinda Zohrab-McConnell warned that the cost of complying with the regime for accountants who will be newly brought in will vary significantly.
"All practices will incur a substantial time and financial cost in advance of the commencement of tranche two," said Zohrab-McConnell.
"We are concerned the cost of preparing to comply with the regime will disproportionately impact small practices, because some costs will be foundational and independent of the size of the practice."
Zohrab-McConnell said the timely passage of the bill will help to minimise costs as it will allow sufficient time to develop the rules and industry specific guidance and models and for new reporting entities to be able to use these to prepare and comply with the regime.
CPA Australia said ongoing costs could also be reduced through the introduction of complementary legislation, including the establishment of a beneficial ownership register and the linking of director IDs to company registers.
"Additionally, the fees for reporting entities to search various asset registers to undertake customer due diligence should be removed," said Zohrab-McConnell.
She noted that under the current regime, an industry contribution levy is paid by reporting entities with some entities exempt.
"Given there will be a cost burden for new reporting entities to become compliant and that the extension of the current regime to such entities benefits all Australians, we consider that no additional costs such as an industry contribution levy should be imposed on the new reporting entities," she said.
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