The report was released as part of the ICAEW’s work to enhance anti-financial crime compliance in the accountancy sector.
Key insights include:
- ICAEW supervised 9,911 firms, conducting 1,088 monitoring reviews in the 2023/24 period, with 35% targeting high or high-medium risk firms;
- Compliance findings showed 80.7% of firms were compliant or generally compliant, with a focus on ensuring effectiveness, not just technical adherence to AML regulations;
- Enforcement action was taken against 39 firms, with fines totalling £92,025, and one member excluded for facilitating money laundering.
Firms can gain valuable insights from the report on as it offers practical takeaways which apply to a broad range of sectors facing AML/CTF obligations.