A NZICA member removed, three suspended and one censured

A New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) member has been removed, three suspended and one censured after a hearing of the Disciplinary Tribunal on 13 April.

A Sydney Chartered Accountant, Rex Charles Goldring, was convicted of two offences of obtaining financial advantage by deception in February at the Sydney District Court.

The Disciplinary Tribunal found Goldring "guilty of being convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment and the conviction reflects on the member's fitness to practice accountancy and/or tends to bring the profession into disrepute."

It ordered that Goldring be removed from the Institute's register of members and he was ordered to pay $2,500 for the costs of the hearing and investigation.

In another case, Cornelis Robert Roest, a Chartered Accountant of Auckland, was found to bring discredit to the accounting profession after he was banned by the Registrar of Companies in May 2009 from being a director or promoter of any company for a period of five years. He was also adjudicated bankrupt in the High Court at Auckland in September 2009.

This case involved a high profile member, a director of Bridgecorp.

The Tribunal found Roest to be guilty of conduct unbecoming an accountant, breaching the Institute's Code of Ethics and being adjudicated bankrupt.

He is suspended from membership of the NZICA for the period until the later of the expiry of his ban or bankruptcy and he was ordered to pay the NZICA $5,361 for the costs of the hearing and investigation.

Another Auckland Chartered Accountant, Walpole Bowden now retired, was also prohibited by the Deputy Registrar of Companies in March 2009 from being a director or promoter of any company for a period of five years, he too was suspended from NZICA for the period of his ban and was ordered to pay $3000.

The third suspension was of Elizabeth Celia Brown, a Chartered Accountant of Australia who was adjudicated bankrupt in December 2009 in the High Court in Christchurch. The member was a guarantor for her husband's business unrelated to accountancy. She has been suspended for the duration of her bankruptcy and ordered to pay NZICA $500.

In the final case, a Fellow Chartered Accountant of Napier, Peter John Gust, pleaded guilty in January to eight charges under the Tax Administration Act 1994, of failing to file income tax returns to the Inland Revenue Department between 2002 and 2009.

The Tribunal took into account that this involved the member's own returns rather than those of his clients.

The Disciplinary Tribunal found Gust "guilty of being convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment or a fine and that conviction tends to bring the profession into disrepute".

Gust was censured and ordered to pay NZICA $3,766 for the costs of the hearing and investigation.

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