From www.accountantsdaily.com.au: Professional bodies have raised concerns that the proposed updates to AUSTRAC’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules lack flexibility for sole practitioners and small firms.

They critique the use of terms like “governing body” which are not relevant to smaller entities and question the requirement for these entities to undertake independent evaluations of their AML/CTF programs, citing concerns over the lack of qualified evaluators.

The organizations suggest that AUSTRAC should utilize annual compliance reports as a more suitable method for assessing the effectiveness of programs for low-risk reporting entities.