Folio 4 of 6 · Titles and registers
4“Accountant” is not a registration
None of the official registers this guide draws on is a register of accountants. What they record is particular work: tax and BAS agents on the Tax Practitioners Board’s register, and auditors, liquidators and financial services and credit licensees on ASIC’s professional registers.
CPA Australia, a professional accounting body, goes further on its own page about fees: it describes the accountancy profession as not regulated, which is why there is no schedule of fees for accountants.
General information, not tax or financial advice. To check registered work, the places are the TPB Register and ASIC’s professional registers. What the professional bodies say about themselves is paraphrased from their own pages and linked.
4.1The registers that exist
| Register | Kept by | What it lists |
|---|---|---|
| TPB Register | Tax Practitioners Board | Registered tax agents and BAS agents, including suspended registrations, and certain unregistered people and businesses |
| Professional registers | ASIC | Registered auditors and authorised audit companies; approved self-managed super fund (SMSF) auditors; registered and official liquidators |
| Professional registers (licensees) | ASIC | Australian financial services licensees and their authorised representatives; credit licensees and credit representatives |
| Financial advisers register | ASIC (on Moneysmart) | Financial advisers; ASIC’s professional registers page points to it |
ASIC says its professional registers can be searched to check that a professional is registered or licensed and which services they are licensed to provide, by name, registration or licence number, ACN or ABN, and that most of the information is free. For tax and BAS work, Checking the TPB Register covers the TPB’s side.
4.2The bodies the TPB recognises
The TPB accredits some professional associations as “recognised” for tax agents, for BAS agents, or for both. Three accounting bodies are recognised for both: Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), accredited on 12 May 2010; CPA Australia, accredited on 31 May 2010; and the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA), accredited on 5 May 2010.
They are not the only ones. The TPB’s list also includes, among others, The Tax Institute for tax agents, and two bookkeeping bodies, the Australian Bookkeepers Association and the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers, for BAS agents.
Membership of a body and registration with the TPB are separate things. A register entry shows an association only where the practitioner has provided it, and the TPB suggests confirming it with the association.
4.3What each body says about its own members
Each body runs its own complaints process for its own members. CPA Australia and the IPA both say plainly that theirs cannot compensate a complainant.
| Body | What it says it can look into | What it says it cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| CPA Australia | Breaches by its members of its Code of Conduct, Constitution and By-Laws, and of the standards and rules that govern them. | Investigate someone who is not a member, fee disputes, anonymous complaints, or matters more than five years old. Its outcomes go to the member’s membership, and with no fidelity fund it cannot pay compensation. |
| CA ANZ | Complaints about members, through its Professional Conduct Committee and, for some matters, a Disciplinary Tribunal whose hearings are held in public and whose decisions are generally published with the member’s name. | Investigate anonymous complaints, though it will take anonymous information. It notes that ASIC, AFSA and the TPB have primary jurisdiction over some work accountants do. |
| IPA | Written complaints against members, for breaches of its Constitution, By-laws and the relevant professional and ethical standards. Every member is subject to the process as a condition of membership. | Go beyond membership-related sanctions: it cannot order compensation or restitution for a complainant, or make a member hand over documents or provide a service. |
On letters after a name, CPA Australia’s pages name three of its own: ASA for associate members, CPA and FCPA. Its Verify a member tool confirms a person’s membership status and designation. CA ANZ’s complaints page lists, among its tribunal’s powers, removing a member’s Fellowship and cancelling or suspending a Certificate of Public Practice. What any set of letters means beyond that is for each body to say, on its own site.
4.4Fee disputes
CPA Australia treats fees as a commercial matter between member and client, outside its jurisdiction, and suggests asking for a letter of engagement that sets out the services and how fees will be charged. The TPB likewise says it cannot always help with a fee dispute, and points to the consumer affairs or fair trading office in each state or territory. It also notes that many registered practitioners ask clients to sign a letter of engagement setting out what each side will do.
Where a complaint is about conduct rather than money, the TPB’s process is set out in Complaints about a tax practitioner.
Balance carried down
The title on the door is not the check. The TPB Register covers tax and BAS work, ASIC’s professional registers cover audits, liquidations and licensed financial services, and a professional body’s own records cover its own letters.