Chartered Accountants ANZ and CPA Australia jointly submitted a response to the Commonwealth’s Attorney General Department’s consultation on a proposed national register for enduring powers of attorney (EPoA).

The Major Accounting Bodies (MAB) thank the department for the opportunity to participate in this consultation.  Many members of our professional associations would come across EPoAs regularly in their work and would know the usefulness and dangers of these documents.

The MAB have a number of concerns about the proposed register.  We believe the register has the potential to reduce, albeit not significantly, financial abuse perpetrated when fraudulently using an EPoA.  However we do not believe the register will remove others avenues for fraud such as identity theft, blackmail, trickery, emotional pressure and so on.

The Major Accounting Bodies look forward to working with the Attorney’s General Department as it continues to develop how this register operate.