5. The Third Schedule to the principal Rules is amended —| (a) | by deleting paragraph 3 and substituting the following paragraph:“3.—(1) A public accountant shall not practise as a public accountant under or using any name except a name first approved by the Board.(2) Without prejudice to section 18B of the Act, the Board will not approve the name or change of name of an accounting corporation or accounting firm if —| (a) | the name is similar or likely to be confused with the name of an existing public accounting corporation or accounting firm; | | (b) | the name is misleading; or | | (c) | the name in any other way detracts from the dignity of the accounting profession. |
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(3) Except as otherwise expressly provided by the Act, no public accountant shall practise as a public accountant and no accounting corporation shall provide public accountancy services —| (a) | in partnership or in association with any person who is not registered as a public accountant or is not an accounting corporation; or | | (b) | under the management and control of any person who is not registered as a public accountant or is not an accounting corporation. |
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(4) No public accountant, accounting firm or accounting corporation shall report or express an opinion on financial statements examined for the purposes of such report or opinion unless the examination is carried out by —| (a) | the public accountant; or | | (b) | a member of the firm or corporation or its staff or a person registered with the Board.”; |
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| | (b) | by deleting the heading “ADVERTISING, PUBLICITY AND SOLICITATION” above paragraph 5 and substituting the heading “PUBLICITY”; | | (c) | by deleting paragraph 5 and substituting the following paragraph:“5.—(1) In this paragraph, “publicity” means any form of advertisement and includes any advertisement —| (a) | printed in any medium for the communication of information; | | (b) | appearing in, communicated through or retrievable from, any mass medium, electronic or otherwise; or | | (c) | contained in any medium for communication produced or for use by an accounting firm or accounting corporation, |
| and its derivatives such as “publicise”, “publicised” and “publicising” shall be construed accordingly. |
| (2) A public accountant, his firm or an accounting corporation may, subject to these Rules, seek publicity for his or its professional services. |
(3) All publicity shall conform to the following principles:| (a) | publicity must be conducted in a manner consistent with the good standing and reputation of the accountancy profession and not contain anything that is likely to bring discredit to the public accountant or to the profession of accountancy; | | (b) | publicity must contain only matters of fact which are true, and the manner of notification must not be misleading or deceptive; | | (c) | publicity must be in good taste and professionally dignified; | | (d) | publicity must not make disparaging references to or disparaging comparisons with the services of others. |
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(4) Forms of unacceptable publicity of professional services include, but are not limited to those that —| (a) | involve the use of coercion, over-reaching or harassing conduct; | | (b) | are presented in a matter or contain material which is not in good taste; | | (c) | create false or unjustified expectations of favourable results; | | (d) | make comparison with other members that are not based on verifiable facts; | | (e) | imply the ability to influence any court, tribunal, regulatory agency or similar body or their officials; | | (f) | consist of self-laudatory statements that are not based on verifiable facts; | | (g) | contain any representations that would be likely to mislead or deceive members of the public; or | | (h) | contain testimonials or endorsements other than where —| (i) | prior consent has been obtained from the giver of the testimonial or endorsement; and | | (ii) | the testimonial or endorsement has not been obtained for reward. |
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| (5) If reference is made in publicity materials to fees, basis on which fees are calculated, or to hourly or other charging rates, the greatest care should be taken to ensure that such reference does not mislead as to the precise range of services and time commitment that the reference is intended to cover. Public accountants should not make comparisons in such materials between their fees and the fees of other accounting corporations or accounting firms. |
| (6) A public accountant or an accounting firm or accounting corporation may claim that he, any member of the firm or accounting corporation, or the accounting firm or accounting corporation as a whole, specialises or has expertise in any particular aspect of public accountancy practice except that the public accountant, accounting firm or accounting corporation shall ensure that any claim to expertise or specialisation can be justified. |
(7) A public accountant is responsible for —| (a) | the form and content of any publicity, whether generated by the public accountant personally, his accounting firm or accounting corporation or any person on behalf of the public accountant, his accounting firm or accounting corporation; and | | (b) | any publicity which the public accountant, his accounting firm or accounting corporation expressly or impliedly authorises. |
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| (8) Where a public accountant is aware of any impropriety in any publicity relating to him or to his accounting firm or accounting corporation, he must use his best endeavours to procure the rectification or withdrawal of the publicity.”; |
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| | (d) | by deleting the words “, directly or indirectly,” in paragraph 8(2) and substituting the word “directly”; and | | (e) | by deleting the words “or tax agent” in the 1st line of paragraph 8(3). |
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