ICAEW.com works better with JavaScript enabled.

Take a cross-sectoral approach to tackling economic crime

Author: ICAEW Insights

Published: 22 Apr 2022

A new course by PaC and IBE aims to get the professions talking about how to deal with money laundering, modern slavery and other eocnomic crime risks.

Professionals of all kinds must be acutely aware of any signs of bribery, corruption, money laundering and modern slavery. Vigilance is particularly important in the current climate, with rising costs increasing the likelihood of modern slavery practices, and the greater focus on money laundering and economic crime in the light of recent sanctions on Russia-linked businesses and individuals. 

Professionals against Corruption (PaC), formed in 2016 to enable cross-sectoral collaboration when it comes to tackling forms of corruption, has put together a course as part of its partnership with the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) to address this.

Aimed solely at ICAEW, RICS and Law Society members, the course follows a case study based on the various stages that real estate, accountancy and legal go through as part of a property transaction. 

It asks attendees to reflect on their due diligence processes, duties and obligations and ability to spot red flags. Attendees need to consider whether this is a property transaction that they would want to go through with as professionals.

Ultimately, it brings together advisers from accounting, legal and real estate to discuss these issues and share ideas, encouraging more effective collaboration between those professions. 

“Professionals in the accountancy, legal and real estate sectors need to be alert to indications of potential money laundering," says David Gomez, ICAEW’s Senior Lead, Ethics. “A collaborative approach helps identify emerging risks and patterns of criminal activity, and contributes to the overall fight against economic crime.”

Participants should develop a better understanding of the other professions’ due diligence processes, including the types of checks conducted on new and existing clients. The discussion will touch on any overlaps that might exist in the current procedures, focusing on what information could be shared and how. 

On the other hand, participants will be able to discuss what client information has to be treated confidentially by each profession and must not be shared.

The case study includes examples of situations and behaviours that might be useful to consider when assessing the ethics risks of a transaction. During the training, participants will be able to discuss and reflect on these red flags.

The course, Getting it right: cross-profession ethics training course for professional advisers, will run five times across the year and is free for members of ICAEW, RICS and the Law Society: 

Wednesday 4 May 2022 (9:30-12:30)
Thursday 16 June 2022 (9:30-12:30)
Thursday 15 September 2022 (14:00-17:00)
Monday 3 October 2022 (14:00-17:00)
Friday 11 November 2022 (9:30-12:30)

Company reform and economic crime

The Economic Crime Act 2022 became law in March and part two of the bill is incoming. From risks to required changes, we explore key considerations for accountants on the issue.

A fingerprint

Recommended content

Podcasts
Accountancy Insights Podcast
Accountancy Insights Podcast

Hear a panel of guests dissect the latest headlines and provide expert analysis on the top stories from across the world of business, finance and accountancy.

Find out more
Newsletter
A megaphone
Stay up to date

You can receive email update from ICAEW insights either daily, weekly or monthly, subscribe to whichever works for you.

Sign up
Daily summaries
Three yellow pins planted into a surface in a row
News in brief

Read ICAEW's daily summary of accountancy news from across the mainstream media and broader financing sector.

See more
Open AddCPD icon

Add Verified CPD Activity

Introducing AddCPD, a new way to record your CPD activities!

Log in to start using the AddCPD tool. Available only to ICAEW members.

Add this page to your CPD activity

Step 1 of 3
Download recorded
Download not recorded

Please download the related document if you wish to add this activity to your record

What time are you claiming for this activity?
Mandatory fields

Add this page to your CPD activity

Step 2 of 3
Mandatory field

Add activity to my record

Step 3 of 3
Mandatory field

Activity added

An error has occurred
Please try again

If the problem persists please contact our helpline on +44 (0)1908 248 250