ATOL Reporting Accountants' Scheme

AIA is one of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved Professional Accountancy Bodies under which AIA members can apply to be licensed under the ATOL Reporting Accountants' scheme.

If you want to act for your ATOL licence holders and submit ATOL Accountants’ Reports to CAA, you must be an ATOL Reporting Accountant.

The ATOL Reporting Accountants' scheme has been developed by the CAA in order to help improve the standard of ATOL reporting and to provide assurance that financial information which is submitted on behalf of ATOL holders is accurate. The scheme is designed to ensure that designated accountants of participating bodies are sufficiently knowledgeable about both the industry and specific requirements of ATOL to provide the required assurance needed by the CAA.

 

Eligibility

Registration with and licensing by AIA is open to members who:

• Hold an AIA practising certificate
• Have taken and passed a professional examination covering assurance work as approved by the CAA. For AIA members this is the Developments in Assurance and Accountability paper at Professional Level 2. If you have taken another professional qualification recognised by CAA, please contact AIA for further information.
• Members must also have successfully completed the online ATOL training module. To register for the training members are required to email caa.arascheme@caa.co.uk and provide their name, professional body and membership number.

Registration Requirements

The basic requirements are that:

• each principal in the firm should be subject to disciplinary arrangements
• there should be at least one designated ATOL reporting accountant for the relevant category of registered ATOL work.

In addition, the firm must demonstrate that:

• it has PII that is at least sufficient to cover the liability cap in Appendix A - Requirements for ATOL Reporting Accountants
• the principal business of the firm is the provision of accountancy services
• it is independent of the ATOL holder
• it has appointed a contact principal.

The individual designated ATOL Reporting Accountant must be independent of the ATOL holder.

Ongoing requirements

• A firm must make arrangements so that all members, principals and employees performing ATOL-related work are, and continue to be, competent to carry out ATOL reporting for which they are responsible or employed.
• The individual must also meet the continuing professional development guidelines of its professional body for the purposes of ATOL reporting.
• A firm must maintain an appropriate level of competence in the conduct of ATOL work and this is best achieved through the use of relevant and bespoke manuals, programmes, checklists and procedures so that the firm has a body of knowledge. Such documentation must be kept up to date if the firm is to retain its competence.

AIA monitoring and disciplinary

Under this agreement and in line with AIA’s regulations, AIA is responsible for granting rejecting or withdrawing a member’s ability to perform ATOL reporting. AIA can also impose restriction or conditions on a member.

AIA will use its own regulations, policies and procedures to determine whether a member has breached a provision of the AIA’s registration arrangement rules and the matter will be dealt with under the disciplinary arrangements.  The professional body will determine whether a firm/designated ATOL reporting accountant is liable to disciplinary action under the professional body’s disciplinary arrangements if:

• it has performed its ATOL reporting work inefficiently or incompetently to such an extent as to bring discredit on itself/him/herself, or
• if it has breached any of the provisions of the registration arrangement.

A firm must appoint a contact principal who will supply the AIA with information as required and provide an annual declaration to the professional body of the individual designated ATOL reporting accountant compliance with its responsibilities under the registration arrangement rules. This is in addition to the AIA’s annual return and practising renewal documents.

Standards and guidance

The ATOL reporting accountant must review and be familiar with Appendix A - Requirements for ATOL Reporting Accountants, which is published in Official Record Series 3, as well as the Annual Accountants' Report, which is required to be completed as a term of holding an ATOL. these documents can be found on the links below:

Official Record Series 3

AAR Part 1 and Part 2 are available via the CAA online portal. 

AAR FAQ's for ATOL holders

A designated ATOL reporting accountant must:

• act in accordance with the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants an
• comply with any additional conduct of business requirements that are set out in the registration arrangement rules of the professional body for an application to become a designated ATOL reporting accountant.
• A designated ATOL reporting accountant should follow Guidance Note 10 when performing ATOL returns/reporting work. 

Under the ARA scheme, the firm should take responsibility for firm-wide elements including:

• policies and procedures
• work programmes
• internal compliance reviews
• firm-wide training
• fit and proper declarations.

The individual designated ATOL reporting accountant will sign off ATOL reports.

 

Unsuccessful applications for registration

Applications for registration are granted to members who meet the requirements explained on this webpage; if you believe your application has been rejected unfairly you can contact compliance@aiaworldwide.com to discuss your application at any time.