Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963 (Qld)

273 (Queensfimb ANNO DUODECIMO ELIZABETHAE SECUNDAE REGINAE No. 44 of 1963 An Act to Amend "The Public Accountants Registration Acts, 1946 to 1954," in certain particulars [ASSENTED TO 20TH DECEMBER, 1963] BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same , as follows:- 1. (1) Short title . This Act may be cited as " The Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963." (2) Principal Act. " The Public Accountants Registration Acts, 1946 to 1954," are in this Act referred to as the Principal Act. (3) Collective title. The Principal Act and this Act may be collectively cited as " The Public Accountants Registration Acts, 1946 to 1963."

Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963, No. 44 279 2. Amendment of s. 4 . Section four of the Principal Act is amended by deleting the definition " Minister " and inserting in its stead the following definition:- " " Minister "-The Premier or other Minister of the Crown for the time being charged with the administration of this Act; ". 3. Reconstruction of Public Accountants Registration Board. (1.) Upon a day to be appointed by the Governor in Council and notified by Proclamation in the Gazette (which day is in this Act referred to as " the appointed day ") The Public Accountants Registration Board of Queensland shall be reconstituted and shall consist of five members who shall be appointed in accordance with section six of the Principal Act as amended by section three of this Act. (2.) Nothing contained in this Act shall prejudice or affect in any way the continuity of the body corporate constituted under section five of the Principal Act but the same shall continue notwithstanding the provisions of this Act. (3.) (a) For the purposes only of the appointment of persons to be members of the Public Accountants Registration Board as reconstituted under this Act, and of any matters necessary for or incidental to such appointment or reconstitution the provisions of this section shall commence upon the day upon which the assent of Her Majesty to this Act is signified. (b) The persons so appointed shall assume their offices as members of the Public Accountants Registration Board upon the appointed day; and on that day the provisions of section three of this Act shall come into force for all purposes. (4.) The person who is, at the date of the passing of this Act, the elected member (within the meaning of the Principal Act) shall, notwithstanding that his term of office may expire prior to the appointed day, continue to be a member of The Public Accountants Registration Board until the expiration of the day immediately preceding the appointed day. 4. Amendments of s. 6 . Section six of the Principal Act is amended by- (a) deleting the words " four members " in subsection (1) and inserting in their stead the words " five members "; (b) deleting paragraph (d) of subsection (1) and inserting in its stead the following paragraph: " (d) Two shall be appointed by the Governor in Council of whom- (i.) One shall be selected from a panel of names of three public accountants registered under this Act and nominated by the Queensland State Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia; (ii.) One shall be selected from a panel of names of three public accountants registered under this Act and nominated by the Council of the Queensland Division of the Australian Society of Accountants. A body specified in subparagraphs (i.) and (ii.) of this paragraph shall be hereinafter called " a body ".";

280 Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963, No. 44 (c) deleting paragraph (ii) of subsection (2) and inserting in its stead the following paragraph:- " (ii.) The members referred to in paragraph (d) of subsection (1.) of this section are in this Act referred to as the " appointed members "." 5. Repeal of and new s. 7. Section seven of the Principal Act is deleted and the following section is inserted in its stead:- " [7.1 Appointed members. (1.) The appointed members shall hold office for a period of two years, save that, at the end of one year from the appointed day, one appointed member as hereinafter specified shall retire and one appointed member (who shall be from a panel of three public accountants registered under this Act and nominated by the particular body from whose panel the person retiring was selected) shall be appointed in his place. Thereafter, one appointed member shall retire each year. The appointed member retiring each year shall have been a nominee of the body other than the one of which the appointed member who retired at the end of the previous year was a nominee. The appointed member who is to retire at the end of one year from the appointed day shall be determined by the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Board. (2.) Retiring appointed members shall, unless otherwise disqualified, be eligible for re-appointment. (3.) Where a body fails to nominate a panel in pursuance of paragraph (d) of subsection (1.) of section six of this Act, the Governor in Council may appoint to the Board a public accountant registered under this Act, who in the opinion of the Governor in Council will represent the interests of that body." 6. Amendments of s. 8. Section eight of the Principal Act is amended by- (a) in subsection (1) deleting paragraph (b) and inserting in its stead the words- " (b) Becomes a mentally ill person; or "; and (b) in subsection (2) deleting the words " The elected member " appearing therein and inserting in their stead the words " An appointed member ". 7. Repeal of and new s . 10. Section ten of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section is inserted in its stead:- . " [10.] Filling of certain vacancies . (1.) Where a casual vacancy occurs in the office of an appointed member, the Governor in Council may appoint a public accountant registered under this Act to fill the vacancy in the office of the appointed member. (2.) The person appointed pursuant to this section shall be, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, a person who will represent the interests of the body of whose panel the appointed member, in respect of whom the vacancy in question occurred, was a member. (3.) Any person appointed to the Board pursuant to this section shall hold office for the residue of his predecessor's term of office."

Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963, No. 44 281 8. Amendments of s. 13 . Section thirteen of the Principal Act is amended by- (a) deleting the words " or election " appearing in subsection (2) thereof; (b) deleting the words " or elected " appearing in the same subsection. 9. Repeal of s. 18. (1.) Section eighteen of the Principal Act is repealed. (2.) This section shall come into force on the first day of January, One thousand nine hundred and sixty-five. 10. Amendment of s. 23 . Section twenty-three of the Principal Act is amended by inserting after the words " registered letter " appearing in the first paragraph of subsection (3) the words " or by certified mail service as provided by the postal regulations for the time being in force ". 11. Amendments of s. 24 . Section twenty-four of the Principal Act is amended by- (a) omitting paragraph (c) and inserting in its stead the following paragraph:- " (c) Every public accountant who is mentally ill; " and (b) adding the following paragraph:- " (f) Every public accountant who has been made bankrupt, where, in the opinion of the Board his bankruptcy was caused by circumstances which were not beyond the control of the public accountant." 12. Amendments of s. 25 . Section twenty-five of the Principal Act is amended by- (a) omitting subsection (1) and inserting in its stead the following subsection:- " (1.) A complaint or charge that any public accountant has been guilty of any conduct discreditable to a public accountant or is incapable of performing the duties of a public accountant may be preferred to the Board."; (b) adding the following paragraph to subsection (3) thereof:- " The Board, in making any investigation into any matter or holding any inquiry or hearing any charge under this section, shall have all the powers, authority, protection and jurisdiction of a Commission of Inquiry under " The Commissions of Inquiry Acts, 1950 to 1954," save such jurisdiction, powers, rights and privileges as are confined to a chairman of a Commission when that chairman is a Judge of the Supreme Court."; (c) omit' ing subsection (5) and inserting in its stead the following subsection:- " (5.) Where upon an inquiry, investigation, or hearing mentioned in subsections (3.) and (4.) of this section the public accountant is adjudged guilty by the Board, the Board may as it thinks fit punish or deal with him in any one or more of the following ways:- (a) Admonish or reprimand him;

282 Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963, No. 44 (b) Require him to pay the costs of and incidental to the inquiry, investigation or hearing by the Board; (c) Require him to give an undertaking to abstain from some specific conduct; (d) Impose on him a fine not exceeding fifty pounds; (e) Suspend his registration for a period not exceeding one year; or (f) Cancel his registration and order the removal of his name from the register." 13. Amendment of s. 26 . Section twenty-six of the Principal Act is amended by adding the following paragraph to subsection (1):-- . " (d) From the decision of the Board to revoke a license pursuant to subsection (5.) of section thirty-one of this Act where that decision was made after the company appeared before the Board to show cause why the license should not be revoked. " 14. Amendment of s. 27. Section twenty-seven of the Principal Act is amended by omitting subsection (1) and inserting in its stead the following subsection:- " (1.) Where a person's name has been removed from the register pursuant to any of the provisions of sections twenty-three to twenty- five inclusive of this Act- (a) That'person; or (b) In the case of the death of that person, the personal representative of that person; or (c) Any other person in whose possession for the time being any certificate issued to the first mentioned person under the Act, is, shall within fourteen days from the receipt of a demand for the return of a particular certificate specified therein, made by the Board in writing to that person, personal representative or other person, as the case may be, surrender to the Board the certificate specified as aforesaid." 15. Amendment of s. 30 . Section thirty of the Principal Act is amended by omitting paragraph (a) of subsection (1). 16. Amendments of s. 31. Section thirty-one of the Principal Act is amended by- (a) omitting the second paragraph of subsection (2) thereof, being the paragraph commencing with the words " But this restriction ", and also omitting the proviso to the said second paragraph; (b) inserting the following subsection after subsection (2)- " (3.) Subject to this subsection, subsection (2.) of this section does not apply to- (a) An association, partnership, or firm consisting wholly of persons who are public accountants registered under this Act; or

Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963, No. 44 283 (b) The companies to which " The Queensland Trustees, Limited, Acts, 1888 to 1963 ," or " The Union Trustee Com pany of Australia , Limited Acts , 1890 to 1963 ," relate ( each of which companies is hereinafter called " a trustee company "); or (c) A company ( other than a trustee company) which has first obtained the license of the Board to carry on the business of a public accountant and whose license has not been revoked by the Board as hereinafter provided: Provided that subsection ( 2) of this section shall not apply to a company ( other than a trustee company ) carrying on business as a public accountant at the commencement of " The Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963," until - the expiration of a period of six months from the commencement of " The Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963." A trustee company, association , partnership , or firm shall not be exempted by the foregoing provisions of this subsection from subsection ( 2.) of this section unless- (d) Every place of business whereat it carries on the business of a public accountant is at all times carried on under the actual personal supervision and management of a public accountant registered under this Act; and (e) (Excepting a trustee company ) every advertisement , signboard, label, invoice , or other document used in relation to a place of business of it , shall contain the name of the public accountant under whose actual personal supervision and management that place of business is."; (c) inserting the following subsections after subsection ( 3) as inserted by this section:- " (4.) (a) The Board may issue a license to a company ( other than a trustee company ), subject to such terms and conditions and for such period as the Board thinks fit , authorizing that company to carry on business as a public accountant. (b) Without limiting the power to make regulations conferred by section thirty - eight of this Act, regulations may be made under that section providing for, regulating and controlling- (i.) Applications for licenses under this section and the fee or fees to be paid in respect thereof; (ii.) The information and particulars to be contained in or to accompany every such application; and (iii.) The matters to be considered by the Board before issuing or refusing a license. (5.) The Board may revoke the license granted to a company pursuant to subsection ( 4.) of this section upon the failure of that company to observe any of the terms and conditions of the license. Before revoking the license, the Board shall give the company an opportunity to show cause why the license should not be revoked. For that purpose the Board shall notify the company of a date and time ( not earlier than seven days after the service of that notification) and place when and where it may appear before the Board and show cause as aforesaid.

284 Public Accountants Registration Acts Amendment Act of 1963, No. 44 A company may appear either by counsel, solicitor or its duly authorised agent. Where a company appears to show cause as aforesaid, the Board shall have all the powers, authority, protection and jurisdiction of a Commission of Inquiry under " The Commissions of Inquiry Acts, 1950 to 1954," save such jurisdiction, powers, rights and privileges as are confined to a chairman of a Commission when that chairman is a Judge of the Supreme Court." (d) renumbering subsection (3.) as subsection (6.). (e) inserting the following subsection after subsection (6) as renumbered by this section:- " (7.) In this section the term " company " shall include a company within the meaning of " The Companies Act of 1961 " and any other body corporate ". 17. Amendment of s. 37. Section thirty-seven of the Principal Act is amended by deleting the word " four " appearing in subsection (5.) and inserting in its stead the word " six ".