Accountants Bill - Singapore Statutes Online

Accountants Bill

Bill No. 2/2004

Read the first time on 5th January 2004.

An Act to repeal and re-enact with amendments the Accountants Act (Chapter 2 of the 2001 Revised Edition) and to make consequential amendments to certain other written laws.

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Accountants Act 2004 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“accounting corporation” means a company approved as an accounting corporation under section 17;

“accounting firm” means a firm approved as an accounting firm under section 18;

“appointed day” means the date of commencement of this Act;

“Authority” means the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority established under the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority Act 2004;

“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Oversight Committee;

“company” has the same meaning as in the Companies Act (Cap. 50);

“Complaints and Disciplinary Panel” means the Complaints and Disciplinary Panel appointed under section 39;

“Complaints Committee” means a Complaints Committee constituted under Part VI;

“corporate practitioner”, in relation to an accounting corporation, means a director or an employee of the corporation who is a public accountant and practising as such in that corporation;

“costs and expenses”, in relation to any proceedings under Part VI, includes —

(a)	the costs and expenses of any legal assessor and any advocate and solicitor appointed by the Oversight Committee for proceedings before a Complaints Committee or a Disciplinary Committee;
(b)	such reasonable expenses as the Oversight Committee may pay to witnesses; and
(c)	such reasonable expenses as are necessary for, or incidental to, the institution and conduct of proceedings before a Complaints Committee or a Disciplinary Committee;

“Disciplinary Committee” means a Disciplinary Committee constituted under Part VI;

“firm” means a sole proprietorship or partnership;

“lay person”, in relation to the Complaints and Disciplinary Panel, a Complaints Committee or a Disciplinary Committee, means an architect, a banker, an advocate and solicitor, a company director, an insurer, a professional engineer, a medical practitioner or a person who possesses such other qualifications as may be approved by the Oversight Committee;

“Oversight Committee” means the Public Accountants Oversight Committee appointed by the Authority under section 4;

“professional indemnity insurance” includes insurance indemnifying a public accountant, an accounting firm or an accounting corporation against liability to compensate a third party who has sustained financial loss or any other damage or injury due to a breach of professional duty or to any professional negligence on the part of such public accountant, accounting firm or accounting corporation, as the case may be (including any such negligence by any director of such accounting corporation), or fraud or dishonesty;

“public accountancy services” means the audit and reporting on financial statements and the doing of such other acts that are required by any written law to be done by a public accountant;

“public accountant” means a person who is registered or deemed to be registered in accordance with this Act as a public accountant;

“Register of Public Accountants” means the register kept and maintained under this Act;

“Register of Public Accounting Corporations” means the register kept and maintained under this Act;

“Register of Public Accounting Firms” means the register kept and maintained under this Act;

“Registrar” means the Registrar of Public Accountants appointed by the Authority under section 7(1)(a) and includes a Deputy Registrar and an Assistant Registrar appointed under section 7(1)(b);

“relevant particulars”, in relation to a public accountant, an accounting corporation or an accounting firm, means such particulars of the public accountant, accounting corporation or accounting firm as the Oversight Committee may determine to be relevant for inclusion in the Register of Public Accountants, the Register of Public Accounting Corporations or the Register of Public Accounting Firms, as the case may be;

“repealed Accountants Act” means the Accountants Act (Cap. 2) in force immediately before the appointed day;

“rules” means rules made under section 64;

“voting share”, in relation to a company or an accounting corporation, means an issued share in the company or accounting corporation other than —

(a)

a share to which, in no circumstances, is there attached a right to vote; or

(b)

a share to which there is attached a right to vote only in one or more of the following circumstances:

(i)	during a period in which a dividend (or part of a dividend) in respect of the share is in arrears;
(ii)	upon a proposal to reduce the share capital of the company or accounting corporation;
(iii)	upon a proposal that affects rights attached to the share;
(iv)	upon a proposal to wind up the company or accounting corporation;
(v)	upon a proposal for the disposal of the whole of the property, business and undertakings of the company or accounting corporation;
(vi)	during the winding up of the company or accounting corporation.

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