Institute of Solomon Islands Accountant

Establishment

1. The Act establishes an independent Registered Practicing Accountants Disciplinary Board under section 40 of the Act

Membership

2. The Board is made up of the following members –
   1. a member of the Council, or his or her nominee member of the Council;
   2. the Chairperson of the Disciplinary Sub-committee of the Council responsible for disciplinary matters, or his or her nominee member of that sub-committee;
   3. the Auditor-General, or his or her nominee senior auditing officer of the Office of the Auditor-General;
   4. a registered practicing accountant;
   5. a professor of or lecturer in accountancy or related discipline of study employed by a university or other institute of or college of higher education; and
   6. a legal practitioner who holds a practising certificate under the Legal Practitioners Act (Cap. 16).
3. The Minister has the power to appoint members of the Disciplinary Board under subsection (1)(a), (d), (e) and (f) in accordance with Schedule 4 of the Act.

Function of the Disciplinary Board

4. The primary function of the Disciplinary Board is to inquire into complaints against a registered practicing accountant for unethical, dishonest or unprofessional conduct in the practice of accountancy.

Powers of the Disciplinary Board

5. The Disciplinary Board has and may exercise the powers conferred on it by the Act, and has the powers to do all such things necessary for the performance of the functions and duties of the Board.
6. The Board may institute, carry on or defend any action, complaint, information or proceeding relating to the functions and powers of the Board under the Act.

Enquiries into complaints against practicing accountants

7. If the Disciplinary Board determines that an inquiry is necessary in respect of a complaint the Board take procedural steps as established by the Statutory Rules which shall be gazetted in accordance with the provisions set out in Schedule 20
8. The Board may, if it sees fit, request the Registration Committee to suspend the registration of the accountant concerned for a period not exceeding twenty-eight days while the inquiry is in progress; and the Registration Committee shall give effect to that request.
9. In conducting the inquiry, the Board is not bound by evidentiary rules or legal procedures as applied by the courts, but may inform itself of such rules in such manner as it thinks fit.
10. In an inquiry, the Chairperson of the Board may summon witnesses to give evidence or to produce documents.

Actions against registered practicing accountants found guilty of misconduct

11. If the Board is satisfied that the accountant concerned had, in his or her practice, acted in a manner that amounts to unethical, dishonest or unprofessional conduct, the Board may take one or more of the following actions in respect of the accountant concerned –
    1. admonish him or her;
    2. order him or her to pay to the Institute within a specified period the costs of and incidental to the inquiry (such costs to be collected by the Registrar);
    3. order him or her to make a written undertaking to abstain from specified conduct;
    4. impose an administrative penalty not exceeding 10,000 penalty units which shall be collected by the Registrar and paid within a specified period to the Institute;
    5. order the suspension of his or her registration for a term not exceeding one year;
    6. order the cancellation of his or her registration and the removal of his or her name from the relevant register; or
    7. if the accountant concerned is currently applying for fresh registration, order that his or her application be refused.

Appeals and review

12. Any person who is aggrieved by an action taken against him or her by the Disciplinary Board may, within thirty days from the date on which the action was taken, appeal against that action to the High Court only on question of law, in accordance with the court rules.

The functions of the Registration Committee are to –

• register persons qualified to practise accountancy in the relevant categories of registered practicing accountants; and
• do all such other things that the Committee is required to do under this Act or any other written law, or which the Committee considers necessary or convenient in relation to public interest matters relating to registered practicing accountants.

1. The primary functions of the Standards Committee are to undertake research and, on the basis of findings from such research, to make recommendations to the Council for its consideration in making rules pursuant to section 14 of the Act.
2. The Standards Committee may make recommendations to the Council on any proposed rules in relation to the following matters –

1. the minimum requirements, including qualifications and experience, conditions, advancement, training, examinations, period of service, fitness for membership and other related matters, for various categories of membership of the Institute or registration;
2. the minimum requirements for continuing professional development, training and education for each category of membership or registration;
3. accounting and auditing standards and rules;
4. a code of ethics for members of the Institute and registered practicing accountants;

any other matter relating to the practice of accounting and auditing.