Late last year, the accountancy and law firms were surprised by the announcement that the government is reforming the current anti-money laundering (AML) regime, making the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) the single supervisor for professional services.

Currently, the AML finance policies of 60,000 accountancy firms and professional services businesses across the UK are overseen by 23 different supervisors, including ACCA and ICAEW.

The government says the reforms will ‘address deficiencies’ in a regime that is currently ‘complex and disjointed’, resulting in a new system that is ‘cohesive and easily navigable for professional services firms’.

But this new approach is likely to make life much more difficult for accountants up and down the country - increasing costs and regulatory burdens. So, do we really need reforms? Well, many in the profession, including ICAEW and ACCA, have expressed significant reservations.