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Money Laundering

The long-awaited Money Laundering Regulations 2003 have been laid before Parliament. The regulations have been in force since 1 March 2004.

Copies of the regulations should be available from the HMSO website : www.hmso.gov.uk.

Further information is available from the Institute of Chartered Accountants website : www.icaew.co.uk

High Value Dealer

If you accept payment in cash of €15,000 (about £10,000) or more for any single transaction you must put in place procedures to counter money laundering. You must also register with Customs and Excise as a high value dealer from 1 April 2004. Further information is available from the Customs and Excise website : www.hmce.gov.uk

Audit exemption threshold has now increased to £5.6 million

The Goverment has announced an increase in the audit exemption threshold to a turnover level of £5.6 million.

In response to the Goverment announcement, David Illingworth, Institute of Chartered Accountants president commented:

'We welcome the Goverment's overall objective of cutting red tape for smaller businesses. However we remain concerned that this decision to increase the audit exemption turnover threshold from £1 million to £5.6 million is being made without sufficient evidence to demonstrate the benefits.'