On 18/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 18/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 18/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 04/05/2012.
3.
—(1) An accountant shall be qualified to give an accountant’s report on behalf of a solicitor if —
(a)
he is practising in Singapore and is authorised to practise as a public accountant under the Accountants Act;
(b)
he has neither been at any time during the accounting period, nor subsequently, before giving the report, become —
(i)
a partner or an employee of the solicitor or of any partner of his; or
(ii)
a partner, a director, a member or an employee of a limited liability law partnership, a law corporation, a Joint Law Venture, a constituent foreign law practice (of a Joint Law Venture), a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice or a licensed foreign law practice in which the solicitor is a partner or director; and
(c)
he is not subject to a notice of disqualification under paragraph (2) or under rule 11A(4) of the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Accounts) Rules.
(2) Where —
(a)
the Public Accountants Oversight Committee has made a disciplinary order against a public accountant under section 52(2) of the Accountants Act (Cap. 2) or an equivalent provision under the repealed Accountants Act (Cap. 2, 2001 Ed.); or
(b)
the Council is satisfied that a solicitor has not complied with the provisions of the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Accounts) Rules (R 8) in respect of matters not specified in an accountant’s report and that the accountant who gave the report was negligent in giving the report, whether or not an application be made for a grant out of the Compensation Fund,
the Council may, in its discretion, at any time notify the accountant that he is not qualified to give an accountant’s report.
(3) The Council may give notice, of the fact that an accountant is not qualified to give an accountant’s report, to any solicitor who appears to the Council to be likely to engage or employ that accountant for the purpose of giving an accountant’s report or to be a book-keeper for the purposes of rule 11(8) of the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Accounts) Rules.
(4) After the accountant has been notified by the Council that he is not qualified to give an accountant’s report and until such notice of disqualification has been withdrawn by the Council, he shall not —
(a)
be qualified to give an accountant’s report; and
(b)
be engaged or employed as a book-keeper for the purposes of rule 11(8) of the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Accounts) Rules.
(5) In coming to its decision, the Council shall (if the decision is based on a matter referred to in paragraph (2)(a)) take into consideration any observation or explanation made or given by the accountant or on his behalf by the Public Accountants Oversight Committee.