Here is a summary of an epetition to the UK government asking for some regulation around the term accountant from number10.gov.uk website
We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to prevent unqualified accountants, tax and financial advisors providing services unless they have professionally recognised qualications.”
Details of Petition:
“Lawyers must have Professional Qualifications but anyone can currently provide services calling themselves Accountants, tax or consultants etc without Qualifications. THey need to be regulated.Alan Shooter FCA FCCA ( a Chartered and Certified Accountantin practice).”
· Read the petition· Petitions homepage
Read the Government’s response
The Government is not persuaded that introducing statutory regulation of those who provide accountancy services would justify the costs to business.
The Government is aware that the professional accountancy bodies have suggested that the term “accountant” should be restricted to those who hold recognised professional qualifications. However, there are a number of potential drawbacks to introducing legislation to restrict the use of the term “accountant”. These include practical difficulties about who should be allowed to use the term, increased regulatory burden and increased costs for business and anti-competitive effects in the form of restricted choice, higher prices and reduced innovation in the supply of services. All of these consequences would particularly affect smaller businesses.
As with most services, users may wish to check whether the provider is a member of an accredited professional body before making a decision on who to engage.
There is no regulation in Australia over the use of the term accountant.