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Practising Certificate

You will require the following:

Up to date form of identification (Passport or Driving Licence)
Copies of professional Indemnity Insurance Schedule, completed Continuing Professional Development (CPD), Record and Company Letterhead
One of the following payment methods (Credit/Debit Card, AliPay, PayPal).

What you need to know:

Entry requirements for eligibility
AIA takes privacy seriously and only uses personal data for relevant lawful grounds as permitted by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In order to be granted a Practising Certificate applicants must submit a Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) certificate. This is completed separately to the application process.
Application and Subscription fees

1 - Practice Details

Name of Practice (Legal Name)(Required)

Trading Name (if different from Legal Name)

Type of Practice(Required)

Date Established(Required)

DD slash MM slash YYYY

Company Address

Address Line 1(Required)

Address Line 2

City(Required)

State / Province(Required)

Zip / Postcode(Required)

Country(Required)

Company Details

Website

Contact Number(Required)

2 - Practice Structure

Please define all Beneficial Owners, Officers, and Managers (BOOMS).

People

Full Name(Required)

Type of Entity(Required)

% Shares Owned(Required)

Role(Required)

(Required)

Add Person

Under regulation 58 of the UK Money Laundering Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Information n the Payer Regulations 2017, all Beneficial Owners, Officers, and Managers (BOOMS) of relevant firms and sole practitioners must be approved by the firms’ sole practitioner’s AML supervisor.

If your application for an AIA Practising Certificate in approved and your jurisdiction is UK you will be required to apply to the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) for a basic check for all (BOOMS) listed in this section application form; if you are a sole trader you will need to apply for a DBS check for yourself. Certified copies of your DBS certificates must be submitted to AIA immediately upon receipt.

3 - Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII)

It is the member’s responsibility to ensure that PII is held for the period to which the Prctising Certificate relates, and that cover is renewed as appropriate.

As outlined by the AIA Consititution, the annual minimum amount of indemnity for a member in public practice as an accountant in the UK or the Republic of Ireland, shall be:

Where the amount of the total income from fees in the year immediately preceding that to which the insurance relates is less than £/€400,000 exclusive of VAT or other similar tax, a sum equal to two and half times that amount subject to a minimum indemnity of £/€50,000 in the case of a sole practitioner and of £/€100,000 in any other case.
Where the amount of such total income is £/€400,000 or more, £/€1 million for any one claim and in all.
Equivalent or in excess of €1,500,000 as required by statutory instrument 127 2016 when acting as a liquidator in the Republic of Ireland.

Name of Insurer(Required)

Limit of Indemnity(Required)

Renewal Date(Required)

MM slash DD slash YYYY

Where a member ceases to practice, arrangements must be made for ‘run down’ retroactive cover for a minimum of six years following cessation of the practice.

Note: will be required to submit a copy of your PII policy at Step 4 - Document Upload stage.

4 - Practice Profile

Approx Annual Gross Practice Fee Income(Required)

Total Number of Clients(Required)

Client Number Breakdown

Sole Traders(Required)

Partnerships(Required)

Limited Companies(Required)

Charities(Required)

Other(Required)

Overseas Clients(Required)

% Fee Income from Oversea Clients (If applicable)(Required)

Client Risk Breakdown

Please indicate how your firm categorises clients using your firm-wide risk assessment.

High Risk(Required)

Medium Risk(Required)

Low Risk(Required)

Is your fee income from any one client more than 15% of your gross fee income?(Required)

Yes

Over the last 12 months, how many potential clients have you rejected due to issues raised during customer due diligence?(Required)

Total Number of Full-Time Employees (excluding yourself)(Required)

Total Number of Part-Time Employees (excluding yourself)(Required)

Total Number of Qualified Accountants(Required)

5 - Clients

Please indicate if the firm has any clients which fall into the following categories, if any further explanation is required for these categories, contact AIA for guidance.

6 - Services

Please indicate if the percentage of overall work the firm provides for each of the services listed below. Please note that the % of overall work does not need to total 100%. Where the firm does not provide any of the services listed below, please use zero.

Isolvency

Isolvency %

Details

Regulated Investment Business

Regulated Investment Business %

Details

Tax Schemes

Tax Schemes %

Details

Payroll

Payroll %

Details

Probate/Estate Management/Executry and Tax Related Work

Probate/Estate Management/Executry and Tax Related Work %

Details

Sub-contract Work

Sub-contract Work %

Details

Work which the firm sub-contracts

Work which the firm sub-contracts %

Details

Trust or Company Service Provider

Please indicate if you provide any of the following specific services. Do you....

Form companies or other legal persons

Yes

Provide a registered office, business address, correspondence address, administrative address for a company, partnership, other legal person or arrangment

Yes

Act or arrange for another person to act as a:

Director or secretary of a company
Partner (or in similar position) for other legal persons
Trustee of an express trust or similar legal arrangement
Nominee shareholder for another person, unless the other person is a company listed on a regulated market which is subject to acceptable disclosure requirements.

Yes

Please indicate the percentage of overall work the firm provides for TCSP. Where the firm does not provide any of the TCSP services listed, please use zero.

Details

7 - Anti-Money Laundering

Do you have written anti-money laundering procedures in place in your practice?

Yes

Have you completed a firm-wide risk assessment?

Yes

Have you completed risk assessments and appropriate customer due dilligence on all current clients?

Yes

Do you use AML software for the purposes of client onboarding / ongoing monitoring and / or conducting risk assessments etc?

Yes

Name & Qualifications of your Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO)(Required)

Preferred Email Address of your MLRO (so we can deliver AML alerts and other sensitive information)(Required)

Has the MLRO completed or attended any AML training in the last 12 months?

Yes

Have you submitted any suspicious activity / transaction reports in the last 12 months?

Yes

8 - Other Practising Certificates & Authorisation

Do you hold a Practising Certificate with another professional body?

Yes

Is your practice currently being supervised by HMRC or any other professional body listed in schedule 1 of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 other than AIA?

Yes

Do you hold ATOL reporting accountant (ARA) status?

Yes

Are you a qualified statutory auditor?

Yes

Are you a registered tax agent with HMRC?

Yes

Are you a registered to provide verification services relating to the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE)?

Yes

9 - Document Upload

Upload relevant image or document (.doc, .docx, .pdf, .tif, .bmp, .jpg, .png). Individual files must not exceed 5mb.

Please enclose certified copies of all your Professional Indemnity Insurance Schedule, completed Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Record and Company Letterhead.

Failure to provide any of the following required documentation will result in a delay to the application process.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Upload(Required)

Max. file size: 300 MB.

CPD Record

Upload

Drop files here or

Max. file size: 300 MB.

Company Letterhead

Upload(Required)

Max. file size: 300 MB.

Identification Document (Passport or Driving Licence)

Upload(Required)

Max. file size: 300 MB.

10 - Continuity of Practice

Please provide details of a qualified and authorised practitioner you have nominated and planned with to ensure the continuity of your practice and the provision of services to your clients in the event of your incapacity or death.

This arrangement should be in the form of a written agreement, signed by both parties.

Is there a signed agreement?

Yes

Name

Practice Name(Required)

Practice Address

Address Line 1(Required)

Address Line 2

City(Required)

State/Province(Required)

Postcode(Required)

Country(Required)

Contact Details

Email Address(Required)

Contact Number(Required)

Professional Qualifications & Registration Number(Required)

11 - Fit and Proper Status

Financial Responsibility and Reliability

Have you in the last ten years, had a court judgement made against you for a debt or made a compromise arrangement with your creditors; have you ever been declared bankrupt or been subject to bankruptcy procedures; have you ever, in respect of your creditors, signed a trust deed, made an assignment for their benefit or made any arrangements for the payment of a compostion to them?(Required)

Yes

Convictions or Civil Liabilities

Have you been found guiltyof any offence, or subject to civil or court action relating to your professional business activities or your directorship or management of a compant? Offences for which the conviction is spent for the purposes of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act England and Wales 1974 (or equivalent legislation as may apply in other jurisdictions) provided that you have satisfied the conditions for rehabilitation and motoring offences that did not lead to disqualification or a prison sentence need not be mentioned. In respect of a conviction which is not spent under the Act, details are required regarding the offence, penalty imposed, the court which convicted you and the date of conviction.(Required)

Yes

Good Reputation and Character

Have you had any actions taken against you restricting your trade, business or profession; had any finding against you in respect of misconduct or malpractice in your business or profession; been subject to disciplinary findings against you by an employer or professional body; been refused entry to or excluded from membership of any profession or vocation, been dismissed or required to resign from any office; employment or partnership; been disciplined or publicly criticised or subject to court order by any regulatory body or officially appointed enquiry with the regulation of a financial, professional or other business activity? Are you currently undergoing any investigations or disciplinary procedures for any of the above?(Required)

Yes

If the answer is ‘Yes’ to any of the above questions please provide details below

12 - Declarations

I hereby apply for a Practising Certificate

I attach the information required by the Council which I acknowledge to be the basis of my application for academic membership of AIA, and which I declare contains an accurate summary of all facts relating to my professional or business status
I undertake to observe all requirements of the AIA Constitution (Articles of Association, Bye-Laws, Regulations and Code of Ethics).
I have read through and fully understand AIA’s requirements surrounding members’ Liability to Disciplinary Action’ and ‘Fit and Proper status’ and confirm there is nothing I should bring to the Association’s notice in that connection;
If my firm is supervised for AML by AIA then I accept responsbility for ensuring all principals and staff, whether they are or are not members, are compliant with any requirements of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 / The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist financing) Act 2010 (This includes ensuring all BOOMs have undergone a basic Disclosure Barring Service Check and informing AIA if my practice structure changes).

I have read and accept all the terms and conditions of AIA membership(Required)

Yes

Date

MM slash DD slash YYYY

Application Progress

Practising Certificate

Practice Details

Practice Structure

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Practice Profile

Clients

Services

Anti-Money Laundering

Other Practising Certificates & Authorisation

Document Upload

Continuity of Practice

Fit and Proper Status

Declarations

AIA offers a qualification and membership pathway for everyone.

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Practising Certificate