Queensland Consolidated Acts

LEGAL PROFESSION ACT 2007 - SECT 266

266 Law society or commissioner may give information to professional accounting association

(1) This section applies if, on considering a report given under section 264 about a law practice, the law society or the commissioner is satisfied the report discloses conduct that shows an external examiner may have breached the professional accounting or audit standards in relation to an external examination of the practice’s trust records.

(2) The law society or commissioner may give to the professional accounting association of which the external examiner is, or was, a member—

(a) a copy of the report or the part of the report relevant to the disclosure of the conduct; or

(b) another document the law society or commissioner considers relevant to the disclosure of the conduct.

(3) If the professional accounting association investigates the conduct of the external examiner—

(a) the investigator who gave the report may, with the approval of the law society, give information to the association about the part 3.3 investigation to which the report relates; and

(b) an officer or employee of the law society may, with the approval of the law society, give information to the association about the content of the report.

(4) However, a report or a part of a report, or another document or information given under subsection (2) or (3) , must not include confidential information about a law practice.

(5) In this section—

"confidential information" , about a law practice, means information that identifies a client of the practice or a party to a matter in which the practice acts.

"professional accounting association" means—

(a) CPA Australia ACN 008 392 452; or

(b) The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia ARBN 084 642 571; or

(c) another entity prescribed under a regulation.

"professional accounting or audit standards" means—

(a) the accounting standards issued by the Australian Accounting Standards Board; or

(b) the auditing standards issued by the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.