New regime for corporate service providers to start from May 15 - Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra).

New regime for corporate service providers to start from May 15

By

Lynette Khoolynkhoo@sph.com.sg@LynetteKhooBT

9 Apr10:37 AM

THE enhanced regulatory framework for corporate service providers (CSPs) will take effect from May 15, said Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra).

This framework was established under the ACRA (Amendment) Act and its related regulations. The Act was passed by Parliament last year.

CSPs are individuals or business entities providing services as a business to third parties such as acting as a formation agent of legal persons.

Under the new CSP regime, CSPs that help to set up companies must conduct the requisite due diligence checks and have robust systems and processes in place to prevent abuse of such corporate vehicles for criminal or other illegitimate purposes.

Persons wishing to provide CSP services will need to register as Filing Agents (FA) and Qualified Individuals (QIs). The framework also imposes terms and conditions on FAs and QIs, and sets out the range of sanctions that Acra may impose on errant FAs and QIs who breach these terms and conditions.

Acra said that a stronger regime for CSPs will boost Singapore's reputation as a trusted international financial and business centre with robust regulatory frameworks against money laundering and terrorism financing. It will also raise the professional standards of the CSP sector.

To help CSPs understand the new legal requirements, Acra worked with representatives from the Singapore Association of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, The Law Society of Singapore, Association of International Accountants, and Institute of Company Accountants, to prepare a set of draft guidelines.

A series of seminars was also conducted by Acra from June to October last year to explain the policies. Over 3,400 CSPs have attended the seminars.

    
 

Buffett's Clayton homes traps poor borrowers, newspaper says

Clayton Homes, the manufactured-housing business owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, uses aggressive sales and lending practices that traps some borrowers in homes that are difficult to resell, the Seattle Times reported. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

4 Apr11:34 AM

[SEATTLE] Clayton Homes, the manufactured-housing business owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, uses aggressive sales and lending practices that traps some borrowers in homes that are difficult to resell, the Seattle Times reported.

Clayton called the report "misleading" and rebutted the newspaper's claims in a two-page statement, saying the majority of customers are satisfied with their homes and mortgages.

In a report published late Thursday in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity, the Times said Clayton has grown into a mobile-home colossus since Berkshire bought it in 2003 and now builds almost half the new units in the industry. Clayton also makes six times more loans to buy mobile homes than any other lender, the report said.

Surprise fees and loan terms that changed suddenly after borrowers had made deposits were among the "deceptive practices" documented in the report, which cited descriptions by more than a dozen Clayton customers. Customers said collection agents working for Clayton told them to cut back on food and medical care to make house payments, according to the report, which was labeled as first in a series.

Clayton told the newspaper that it helps customers find houses within their budgets and tries to open doors "to a better life, one home at a time."

'LENDER CHOICE'

The company said in the statement that its policies, procedures and training "are designed to ensure that customers have a choice of lenders." During the last year, new home loans were all fixed rate and fully amortized, with an average term of 22 years, according to the statement.

"The unfortunate reality is that some customers have trouble making their monthly payments when they experience a significant life-event -- divorce, job loss, or medical issue," Clayton managers said in the statement. "When a home is foreclosed no one wins -- the company loses money and more significantly the customer loses their home."

Mr Buffett, 84, built Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire over the past five decades into one of the biggest companies in the world. Its operations now include insurers, manufacturers, retailers, electric utilities and one of the largest railroads in the US.

BLOOMBERG

    
 

Higher audit standards extended to public bodies

From Feb 1, audits of institutions like charities must meet same independence standards as listed firms

By

Michelle Quahmichquah@sph.com.sg@MichelleQuahBT

The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra), announced on Monday that the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics (Code) for public accountants and accounting entities will be strengthened further from Feb 1, 2015. 

PHOTO: SPH

11 Nov5:50 AM

Singapore

SINGAPORE'S public accountants and public accounting firms will soon have to adhere to stricter professional conduct and ethics guidelines aimed at greater audit independence.

The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra), the industry's regulator, announced on Monday that the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics (Code) for public accountants and accounting entities will be strengthened further from Feb 1, 2015.

The changes include extending higher independence standards to all audits and reviews of public interest entities (PIEs), large charities and large institutions of a public character (IPCs) as opposed to only audits of listed and public companies currently, and having new requirements to further safeguard the independence of auditors. "As a profession that serves the public interest, it is crucial that public accountants remain a profession with integrity and independence, and serve as a valued and trusted source of information and advice," Acra said in its announcement.

"In this era of economic volatility and a rapidly evolving corporate landscape, the Code is a vital set of guiding principles for public accountants to rely on and enable them to make the right decisions when faced with conflicting choices between economic interests and ethical considerations."

The changes are a result of a review of the Code carried out by Acra's Public Accountants Oversight Committee, with the support of the latter's Ethics Sub-Committee. The amendments took into account revisions made to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Code up to September 2013.

The current Code is largely based on IESBA's 2006 Code of Ethics.

The key changes to it include:

• Extending higher independence standards to all audits and reviews of PIEs, large charities and IPCs, instead of just those of listed companies now; this is in recognition of the need for a high degree of public confidence in the financial information of such entities.
• Subjecting review engagements - whereby the public accountant expresses a conclusion which provides a limited assurance on the client's financial information, as opposed to a reasonable assurance provided in an audit engagement - to the same independence requirements as audit engagements. This recognises that, even though the type of assurance given is different in each instance, both audit and review engagements involve the public accountant expressing a conclusion on historical financial information.
• New requirements to further safeguard the independence of auditors, such as the identification of a Key Audit Partner (KAP), who would make key decisions or judgments on significant matters with respect to the audit; additional requirements will be placed on KAPs, such as partner rotation, cooling-off period before joining a PIE audit client in certain positions, and prohibiting a KAP from being evaluated on or compensated based on that partner's success in selling non-assurance services to the partner's audit or review clients.

This announcement comes days after the Ethics Pronouncement 200 came into effect. Issued by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, the new pronouncement contains enhanced mandatory requirements for professional accountants, including public accountants, in terms of the controls and procedures they will have to put in place to counter money-laundering and terrorism-financing efforts. The pronouncement has been adopted by Acra, and will be applicable to public accountants and accounting entities registered under the Accountants Act who are regulated by Acra.