Accountant booted out of ICAEW

An accountant has been booted out of the ICAEW for failing to pay the Insolvency Service (IS) nearly £90,000.

A tribunal of the ICAEW’s disciplinary committee made the decision when it heard how William Evan Price of Pontypool - as liquidator of TG Beddoe & Sons (Engineers) Ltd - failed to pay £88,714 to the Insolvency Service.

The disciplinary committee ruled that Price had failed to comply with Regulation 5 of the Insolvency Regulations 1994 without any justifiable reason, had caused significant loss to third parties and that his actions amounted to serious professional misconduct and had brought the ICAEW into disrepute.

In a letter to the Insolvency Service, Price said that he had always maintained that he disbursed the monies to meet 'liquidation liabilities and so should not have been paid to the Insolvency Service' and that the monies were paid 'to cover costs and are all accounted for'.

Price even insisted he was not a member of the ICAEW, even though he was, the tribunal heard.

Despite Price’s previous clean disciplinary record, the committee found that 'the defendant has failed to account to the Insolvency Service for a significant sum of money which represented nearly 50% of the assets of the liquidation. He did so without any justifiable or lawful reason. This was serious professional misconduct.

'Members of ICAEW are trusted by many public bodies, including the Insolvency Service to treat money put into their care in accordance with the law and regulations. A failure to treat money in this way, for which the defendant has been found liable, is to discredit the profession as well as to damage the Insolvency Service and the creditors of any liquidation.’

Price was also ordered to pay costs of £3,450.