The Regulatory Board is obliged by section 48 to consider and, where it appears justified, investigate and deal with any complaint, charge or allegation of improper conduct against a registered auditor which may be laid before it, and is empowered to impose any of the prescribed sanctions set out in section 51(3) and Disciplinary Rule 8.1 and 8.2, in respect of any improper conduct. While the acts or omissions specified in the following paragraphs are not intended to be a complete list of acts or omissions which might constitute improper conduct on the part of a registered auditor and which are punishable in accordance with the provisions of the Act and Disciplinary Rules, a registered auditor shall be guilty of improper conduct if such registered auditor without reasonable cause or excuse—
| 2.1 | contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of the Act with which it is the registered auditor’s duty to comply; |
| 2.2 | contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of any other Act with which it is the registered auditor’s duty to comply in providing professional services; |
| 2.3 | has been found guilty in some other forum, including a Court, of any offence involving dishonesty, and in particular (but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing) theft, fraud, forgery or uttering a forged document, perjury, bribery or corruption; |
| 2.4 | is dishonest in the performance of any work or duties devolving upon the registered auditor in relation to— |
| 2.4.1 | any professional services performed by a registered auditor; or |
| 2.4.2 | any office of trust which the registered auditor has undertaken or accepted; |
| 2.5 | contravenes or fails to comply with any requirements in Auditing Pronouncements prescribed by the Regulatory Board; |
| 2.6 | contravenes or fails to comply with any requirements in the Code; |
| 2.7 | fails to perform any professional services or duties with such a degree of professional competence, due care and skill as in the opinion of the Regulatory Board may reasonably be expected, or fails to perform the professional services or duties at all; |
| 2.8 | with intent to evade or to assist any other person to evade any tax, duty, levy or rate whatsoever— |
| 2.8.1 | knowingly or recklessly prepares or makes, or assists any other person to prepare or make, any false statement (whether such statement be oral or in writing); or |
| 2.8.2 | signs any false statement in relation thereto recklessly or knowing it to be false; or |
| 2.8.3 | knowingly or recklessly prepares or maintains any false books of accounts or other records; |
| 2.9 | permits the registered auditor’s name to be used in connection with any estimate of earnings contingent upon future transactions in a manner which may lead to the belief that the registered auditor vouches for the accuracy of the estimate; or in circumstances in which the registered auditor knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the registered auditor’s name was being or would be used in connection with any such estimate of earnings, or failed, within a reasonable time from acquiring such knowledge or from the time when the registered auditor ought reasonably have known of those facts, to take reasonable steps to distance the registered auditor from such estimate and/or to dispel the belief that the registered auditor vouched for the accuracy of the estimate; |
| 2.10 | seeks, either before or during the period of a training contract of a prospective registered auditor, to impose any restraint whatever on the prospective registered auditor concerned which will apply after the date of termination of the training contract period, or threatens or attempts to enforce any such restraints after such date. The provisions of this rule will not, however, apply so as to prohibit a registered auditor from seeking to restrain a prospective registered auditor, for a period of not longer than one year from the date of the prospective registered auditor’s ceasing to be employed by the registered auditor, from soliciting for professional services from an existing client of that registered auditor or from accepting an engagement of any kind from an existing client of that registered auditor; |
| 2.11 | directly or indirectly stipulates or receives from a prospective registered auditor who is or has been serving under a training contract, or from any other person, any payment, reward, compensation or consideration for agreeing to the cancellation of such training contract— provided that it shall not be deemed a breach of this rule if a registered auditor requires to be or is reimbursed in respect of disbursements actually made by them to the Regulatory Board in connection with a training contract which is subsequently cancelled, and of which disbursements they are able to produce proof to the satisfaction of the Regulatory Board; |
| 2.12 | fails to answer or to deal with appropriately within a reasonable time any correspondence or other communication from the Regulatory Board or any other person which reasonably requires a reply or other response; |
| 2.13 | fails to comply within a reasonable time with an order, requirement or request of the Regulatory Board; |
| 2.14 | fails to resign from a professional appointment when requested by the client to do so and/or fails to transfer all books and papers that are the property of the client and which are or which may come into the registered auditor’s possession to the client or to a newly appointed accountant or auditor when requested by the client to do so; |
| 2.15 | fails after demand to pay any subscription or any fee, levy or other charge payable to the Regulatory Board; |
| 2.16 | abandons the registered auditor’s public practice without previous notice to the registered auditor’s clients and without arranging with the clients for the despatch of the clients' business or the care of the clients' property in the registered auditor’s possession or under the registered auditor’s control; or |
| 2.17 | behaves in a manner which tends to bring the auditing profession into disrepute. |
