In July 2022, Chartered Accountants ANZ (CA ANZ) announced that it would conduct a Professional Conduct Framework Review (the Review). The core purpose of the Review was to ensure the Conduct and Disciplinary Framework continues to uphold the trust in, and integrity of, the profession across both Australia and New Zealand.

As we have said previously, the Review is being led by CA ANZ’s Professional Conduct Framework Review Committee (the Committee), and jointly chaired by the Chair of the CA ANZ Board, and the CA ANZ Chief Executive Officer, in conjunction with members of the NZICA Regulatory Board.

The Committee had four main focus areas during the Review:

1. Review the CA ANZ By-Laws, NZICA Rules and the CA ANZ Regulations applicable to the Australian and New Zealand professional conduct and disciplinary functions;
2. Review the professional conduct committee and tribunal structures and administrative arrangements;
3. Review the scope and content of supporting materials for Members relating to ethical disclosure obligations; and
4. Review CA Program academic integrity policies with the professional conduct and discipline By-Laws and Regulations, considering specifically how academic misconduct is notified and addressed.

CA ANZ Members and the public were encouraged to lodge a submission as part of the Review process, to ensure Member and stakeholder feedback was received. A benchmarking exercise was also conducted against 12 other professional accounting organisations and bodies.

CA ANZ also appointed former Federal Court Justice, the Hon. Dennis Cowdroy AO KC to provide an independent assessment of the Committee’s recommendations. This was to provide an additional level of review and consideration.

It is worth noting that a review of the CA ANZ Professional Conduct Framework is relatively routine, building on a previous major review in 2015 and a continuous improvement review in 2019, which also led to refinements to our Disciplinary Framework.