Ethics, conduct and integrity policies · 05
Client acceptance, engagement and independence policy
Decides which work the organisation will take, from whom, and on what terms, before capacity and cash flow decide it instead.
Decides which work the organisation will take, from whom, and on what terms, before capacity and cash flow decide it instead.
Cover the conflict search and how it is recorded; competence and capacity screening; the risk rating of a prospective client; customer due diligence where the FIC Act applies; the engagement letter as the only basis on which work starts; independence safeguards and the circumstances requiring declinature; fee and payment terms; and the file-closure and retention rule.
An acceptance policy without a declinature route is decorative. Write down what the organisation will not take and who may say no, and make the conflict search a step that produces a record, because the record is what you will be asked for.
The law it sits under
What governs this instrument.
Client acceptance is where conflicts are caught, and where FICA customer due diligence is performed if the organisation is an accountable institution under Schedule 1 to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001. It is also where an organisation decides what work it will not take, which is a governance decision, and should be recorded as one.
Related pages, tools and documents
Where this instrument sits in the wider set, and the engagement that produces it.
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