Kenyan legislation

The Accountants (Quality Assurance Review) Regulations

Edition: 2022-12-31 · In force

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Part I – PRELIMINARY

1. Citation

These Regulations may be cited as the Accountants (Quality Assurance Review) Regulations.

2. Interpretation

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise require—"Act" means the Accountants Act (Cap. 531);“assurance services” means professional audit activities that provide an independent and objective assessment of financial statements or compliance efforts that assure stakeholders including management and staff, the Board, shareholders, investors, regulators and the public that financial or non-financial statements are reasonable, true and fair, and operations are done in accordance with applicable policies and regulations;“Council” has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Act;“Continuous Professional Development Program” means the continuous maintenance, development and enhancement of the professional and personal skills, which accountants will require for the execution of professional and technical duties throughout their working lives;“Disciplinary Committee” has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Act;“firm” has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Act;“Institute” has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Act;“member” means a person who is registered with the Institute in accordance with sections 4 and 24 of the Act;"member in good standing," means a member of the Institute who has attained the requirements of the Institute’s continuous professional development program, paid up the fees and subscriptions and has no pending disciplinary case before the Disciplinary Committee;“non assurance work” means professional accountancy services rendered by a member or a firm whose primary purpose is to ensure compliance, generate recommendations, solutions or ideas to a client to enable them make an informed decision or explore alternatives or conclude a matter based on professional technical expertise and advice or deal with a situation or enhance its competitiveness in the market;"Registration Committee" means the Registration and Quality Assurance Committee established under section 13 of the Act;"reviewer" means a person deployed or engaged under Paragraph 10 of the Third Schedule to these Regulations; and"work pack" means a combination of support documentation to a quality review that reflects work performed by a professional accountant and records inspected at the time of the review by the Institute.

3. Objects and purpose

The objects and purpose of these Regulations shall be to provide for means of—

(a)monitoring compliance with professional, quality assurance and other standards published by the Council for observance by the members of the Institute;

(b)undertaking investigations pursuant to section 13(3) of the Act;

(c)reviewing compliance with professional, quality assurance and other standards and recommending to the Council that a member’s conduct be referred for inquiry under section 32 of the Act; and

(d)determining actions necessary for rectifying deviations from published standards.

Part II – QUALITY ASSURANCE FRAMEWORK

4. Quality assurance framework

Pursuant to section 13 (2) (b) of the Act, the Registration Committee shall undertake quality review for practising members undertaking—

(a)composite;

(b)audit and assurance;

(c)taxation; and

(d)management consulting

to ensure compliance with professional, quality assurance and other standards published by the Council for observance by the members of the Institute.

5. Quality review procedure

(1)Pursuant to section 13(7) of the Act, members of the Institute shall administer a self-review on adherence to quality assurance in line with the self-review practice monitoring tool set out in the First Schedule.

(2)The Registration Committee shall conduct a pre-review of the quality assignment as set out in the Second Schedule.

(3)The Registration Committee shall conduct quality assurance reviews to assess the procedures, processes and controls established by firms to ensure that professional accountancy work complies with international standards and the firms meet the requirements of applicable laws in line with the procedures set out in the Third Schedule.

(4)The quality assurance reviews undertaken under this regulation shall inform assessments for the issuance of annual licences or the renewal of the licenses by the Registration Committee.

(5)The Registration Committee may revise the First, Second and Third Schedules with the approval of the Cabinet Secretary and gazettement from time to time.

6. Actions to rectify deviations from published standards

The Registration Committee shall—

(a)subject to the review carried out under regulation 5(3), identify deficiencies in professional work, ensure follow up and specify remedial actions where necessary;

(b)require a firm or member, who has deficiencies identified under subregulation (a), to submit a remedial action plan to the Registration Committee;

(c)refer a firm or member who has not complied with the remedial action plan under subregulation (b) and within the timelines provided therein, to the Council for referral to the Disciplinary Committee for appropriate action; and

(d)pursuant to section 13(4) and 13(5) of the Act, record information specified in the work pack set out in the Third Schedule for referral to Council and Disciplinary Committee for inquiry.

Part III – INVESTIGATIONS BY THE REGISTRATION COMMITTEE

7. Conduct of investigations by the Registration Committee

(1)Where the Registration Committee deems it appropriate to undertake investigations in the performance of its functions under section 13(3) of the Act, such investigations shall be conducted as set out in the Fourth Schedule.

(2)The Registration Committee may revise the Fourth Schedule with the approval of the Cabinet Secretary and gazettement from time to time.

Source: Kenya Law · Imported 4 October 2026