APS12 has been approved by CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants. It becomes effective on 1 November 2005. CPA Australia would like to thank the members and stakeholders who provided feedback and assisted in finalising these important standards.
Members will need to:
provide a Terms of Engagement letter to clients upon the commencement of a new client engagement. A template Terms of Engagement letter is incorporated within APS12, however members are also able to incorporate the required information into existing documentation such as their Financial Services Guide, Authority to Proceed, Client Agreement letter or a combination of the above (Section 15)
wherever possible, adopt a fee-for-service approach to the provision of advice, consistent with the principle of Professional Independence (Section 17)
identify and manage real and potential conflicts of interest (Section 8)
provide their respective professional bodies with their licence and/or authorised representative details. CPA Australia members can easily update their licence details via Update Your Details. In addition, members annual renewal notices will now incorporate provision to update these details (Section 22)
not accept soft dollar payments (Section 21)
provide clear terms that explain the cost of the initial and ongoing advice. Heavy initial discounting has been prohibited to avoid recovery through subsequent higher fees and commissions. This will not however prevent members undertaking pro-bono work where appropriate (Section 18)
