s 38A Refusal to undergo practice monitoring programme
38A.—(1) If a public accountant refuses, without reasonable excuse (the burden of proof of which lies with the public accountant), to undergo a practice monitoring programme as required by the Oversight Committee, the Oversight Committee may by order suspend the public accountant’s registration for a period not exceeding 2 years. (2) An order of the Oversight Committee made under subsection (1) does not take effect until the latest of the following:(a) one month after the date the order has been served on the public accountant; (b) the date specified by the Oversight Committee in the order as the date on which the order takes effect; (c) where an appeal against the order is made to the General Division of the High Court under subsection (3), the date immediately after the date the appeal has been determined or withdrawn. (3) Any public accountant who is aggrieved by an order of the Oversight Committee under subsection (1) may appeal to the General Division of the High Court within a period of 30 days or within any further period that the General Division of the High Court may allow, after the order of the Oversight Committee has been served on the public accountant. (4) The decision of the General Division of the High Court on an appeal under subsection (3) is final. (5) In this section, without limiting the expression, a public accountant refuses to undergo a practice monitoring programme if the public accountant —(a) expressly informs a practice reviewer, the Oversight Committee or the Authority that he or she refuses to undergo the practice monitoring programme; (b) refuses to permit a practice reviewer to enter, at any reasonable hours in the day for the purposes of carrying out a practice review, the registered office or business premises of the accounting corporation, accounting firm or accounting LLP in which the public accountant practises as a public accountant; (c) refuses to comply with a requirement of a practice reviewer made under section 36(2)(a) or (b) within 14 days after the notice of the requirement has been served on him or her; (d) refuses to permit a practice reviewer to inspect, examine or make copies of or take any abstract of or extract from any record or document produced under section 36(2)(a) or (b); or (e) refuses, where a written notice requiring the public accountant to undergo a practice monitoring programme has been served on him or her under section 33(1), to respond to the notice within 14 days after the date the notice has been served or any longer period that the practice reviewer, the Oversight Committee or the Authority may allow. (6) This section only applies where a public accountant is required by the Oversight Committee on or after the date of commencement of the Accountants (Amendment) Act 2022 to undergo a practice monitoring programme.[Act 32 of 2022 wef 01/07/2023]