Lawmakers passed the Accountants (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Limited Liability Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 during the sitting of Parliament the week of 10th October.
The amendments to the legislation covering accountants were to ensure clarity in legal definitions, to allow additional licensing conditions for public accountants, and to expand membership categories of the Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants (CIIPA).
The bill includes limited liability partnerships (LLP) in the definition of “firms of public accountants”.
It broadens CIIPA’s scope to issue public accountant licences with certain conditions, for instance, when a new practitioner has experience that would be sufficient for simple engagements, but not for complex or public interest entity engagements.
The amendments introduce a new CIIPA membership category for retired members and expands the student membership to anyone who is pursuing a professional accounting qualification and residing and working in the islands.
The changes also now allow a sole practitioner or relevant firm to surrender their licence, and for CIIPA to cancel registrations under appropriate circumstances.
LLC’s responsibilities clarified
Following the changes to the Limited Liability Companies Act, existing LLCs no longer must file a certificate of amendment on membership changes with the Companies Register.
Instead, LLCs must maintain, at their registered offices, the names and addresses of their members in their register, as well as the nature of their voting rights, and provide to the Companies Register on demand.
To avoid duplication, the changes removed penalty provisions in the LLC Act, as penalties for failing to provide beneficial ownership information are already covered in Cayman’s beneficial ownership administrative fines regime.
The changes are in line with global regulatory requirements set by the Financial Action Task Force for fighting financial crimes, and clarify responsibilities of LLCs in relation to maintaining and providing beneficial ownership information, Financial Services Minister André Ebanks said, when the bills were gazetted.
Source: Cayman Compass
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