Date: Thursday 20 May 2021
Time: 18:00 – 19:30
Venue: Webinar via Zoom
Speakers: Ben Hubble QC, Peter Steel, Gareth Rees QC
Chair: Paul Ozin QC, ARDL Chair
Description: The second seminar in our Ethics Series will look at current ethical challenges in the accountancy sector from three different perspectives.
Ben Hubble QC will consider the implications of Rihan v Ernst and Young Global Ltd., in which four UK-based entities, which provided services to a worldwide network of member firms, were found to have owed a duty of care to a partner of a foreign member firm to take reasonable steps to prevent him suffering loss by reason of the companies’ failure to conduct an assurance audit in that foreign jurisdiction in an ethical and professional manner. The case considers the circumstances in which such a duty of care will be imposed on UK entities to a partner of a separate member firm as well as the ethical standards to be applied when dealing with a foreign regulator.
Peter Steel, General Counsel for CIMA, will discuss CIMA’s research into management accountants’ view of professional standards and what that might mean for CIMA and its enforcement function.
Gareth Rees QC will speak on:
- Accountants and Ethical Standards
- Auditors and the ‘pivotal gatekeeper role’
- Are these Ethical Standards too narrow for modern corporate culture and ESG?
- Do Government plans to restore trust in audit means the Ethical Standards were ineffective?
This seminar will take place remotely, on an appropriate platform. Those signing up will be provided with a link in advance of the seminar. Please note that the seminar is open to members only and you will be asked to confirm that you are a member before joining the event.
The Speakers
Ben Hubble QC, 4 New Square: Ben is a specialist in professional liability, disciplinary, regulatory and commercial work. He acts in high profile disciplinary proceedings against accountants, auditors and lawyers. He advises financial institutions and large professional services firms on their regulatory obligations and dealings with their regulators. Ben is a past Chair of the Professional Negligence Bar Association. He is a Senior Decision Maker for the Guernsey Financial Services Commission. Ben was the Lawyer’s inaugural Barrister of the Week and the Times’ Lawyer of the Week in April 2020.
Peter Steel, General Counsel – CIMA, Vice President, Professional Standards & Conduct — Management Accounting: Peter is General Counsel for the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. He is responsible for the professional standards, professional conduct and ethics work of the Institute, where he has worked since 2017. Prior to that he was a solicitor in private practice, having qualified in 1996. He is also a member of the Law Society’s Professional Standards and Ethics Committee and Regulatory Processes Committee.
Gareth Rees QC, Partner | Morrison & Foerster (UK) LLP: Gareth has practised law for forty years, mainly at the Bar in London, and was appointed Queens Counsel in 2003. His practice was predominantly in criminal fraud and business regulation. In 2012 he was appointed Executive Counsel at the Financial Reporting Council and left in 2017 as Director of Enforcement, having led on some substantial changes to the structure and composition of the enforcement team. He is now a partner at US law firm Morrison & Foerster where he advises on fraud, bribery, sanctions, money laundering and corporate reporting and regulatory issues and compliance.
Seminar Chair
Paul Ozin QC, 23 Essex Street Chambers and Deans Court Chambers: Paul is the current Chair of ARDL. He specialises principally in the fields of financial and business crime, regulatory and disciplinary proceedings and related public law, civil actions and international work. He is well known for his work in accountancy regulatory cases. He is presently instructed in the pending appeal to the Court of Appeal against the decision of the High Court in R (Awodola) v Association of Chartered Certified Accountants [2020] 4 W.L.R. 162.