Regulating our Members

Overview

The IPA is a voluntary membership organisation. We are not a licensing authority. Registration of insolvency practitioners is controlled by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia (ITSA). The IPA works with these regulators in a co-regulatory role.

The IPA has no jurisdiction over practitioners who are not members.

The IPA has no formal investigative powers. Investigations are carried out by the member's foundation body (ICAA, CPA or Law Society), ASIC or ITSA. If investigations establish that a member has breached the law, or professional codes of conduct, the member will be required to show cause why the IPA should not terminate or suspend membership.

The standards and codes set by the IPA are used to determine the required level of professional competence and conduct. They are referred to by regulators, tribunals and the Courts. The codes set standards that are often higher than those prescribed by law or regulation.

We strongly urge you to check if the trustee or liquidator you are involved with is a member of the IPA.

Foundation Bodies

The IPA has relationship agreements with the three principal professional foundation bodies to which all of our full members belong.  These are:

  1. Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia ICAA
  2. CPA Australia CPA
  3. The Law Societies in each state.

Regulators and Tribunals

The authorities that regulate our members are:

The IPA has no power to suspend or remove registration as an insolvency practitioner. This is the prerogative of the regulators, tribunals and Courts. The IPA's primary sanction is to remove people from IPA membership who do not adhere to our standards.

Co-regulation

The IPA's co-regulatory role has three elements:

1. The setting of standards under the IPA Code of Professional Practice;

2. The delivery of education; and

3. The disciplining of members who are proven to have breached our Code or other requirements.

One of the IPA's critical roles is the setting of professional standards. All IPA members are required to abide by the IPA Code of Professional Practice, a copy of which is on the IPA website.

Another important role is to educate our members on compliance with the law, regulatory guides and the IPA Code. We work with the regulators to ensure our standards and education programs meet not just the letter of the law and regulation, but the spirit of the law and the legislative intent.

Our standards form the basis for assessing good professional practice and are thus referred to in disciplinary proceedings.

Complaints

To make a complaint against a member click here.