Accountants Park
Plot No. 2374/a
Thabo Mbeki Road, Lusaka
membership@zica.co.zm
education@zica.co.zm
(+260) 211 374 551-9

Complaints & Disciplinary Matters



Lodging Complaints with Disciplinary Committee

Any member of the public, an association or an organisation may lodge a complaint against a member who is registered with the Institute if they feel that the said member who may be an accountant whether in practice or business is guilty of improper or unprofessional conduct. At the outset, it is important to understand that the Institute through the Standards & Regulatory Board investigates alleged improper conduct on the part of individual registered accountants and auditors and, if necessary, implements disciplinary action against such erring members. The Board is not in a position to assist with the recovery of monies – it is neither a Court nor an alternative to the normal debt collection procedures. In order for such a complaint to be made, it is important to note the person is required to be registered with ZICA, the ultimate jurisdiction resides with the Standards and Regulatory Board and finally the powers of the Disciplinary Committee are purely disciplinary in nature.


ZiCA Registration is Required

In other words any complainant should first establish whether or not the respondent is a registered member of ZiCA. Note that the category of membership that is conferred by the institute ranges from Technician, Licentiate, Graduate, Associate and Fellow. This includes the student members registered with the Institute either studying the local or foreign qualification. Further, it also imperative that you go through the ZiCA website to confirm whether the member is registered.



Jurisdiction

The Standards & Regulatory Board is an Independent Committee of The Council of ZiCA which feeds into the Disciplinary Committee which Committee is provided for under the Accountants Act No. 13 of 2008 (as amended). The Act empowers the Disciplinary Committee to investigate and if necessary hear any allegations of improper conduct against a either a non-practicing accountant or a practitioner and, if such practitioner is found guilty, to impose one of the prescribed punishments. The punishments include, inter alia, a caution, reprimand, a fine not exceeding 100,000 penalty units, suspension from practice for a specific period and cancellation of the registration of the practitioner with the Board and removal of the practitioner or member’s name from the register of members.



Disciplinary Committee

As can be seen from the above, the powers of the Disciplinary committee are purely disciplinary in nature. The Committee does not act in place of a criminal or civil court and its jurisdiction extends only to the conduct of registered members. The attention of complainants is drawn to the fact that the Committee does not award compensatory orders in favour of the complainant if the member is found guilty of unprofessional conduct. Appeals from the Disciplinary committee are to the High Court for Zambia if a complainant is not satisfied with the ruling of the Committee.  Should you have any further queries regarding the lodging of a complaint against a ZiCA Member, please contact us at ZiCA by emailing complaints@zica.co.zm.


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