23 June 2016
It has come to our attention that a number of principals of estate agents are having difficulties or experiencing delays in obtaining their new Org ID Numbers from the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) or activating their Org ID numbers.
We hereby advise that it will be acceptable for the auditor to leave blank the field of the Org ID number (or indicate “No Org ID”) when submitting the audit report online in instances where the principal or Compliance Officer of the estate agency is not in possession of the activated Org ID number.
It will also be acceptable for the auditor to select “No” on the field relating to whether the estate agency is registered with FIC as an accountable institution in instances where the estate agency is not in possession of an activated Org ID number.
On receipt of such audit reports with no activated Org ID numbers by the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB), the EAAB Audit Compliance Department will request the estate agency to obtain and activate the Org ID number with FIC within 30 days of the date of submission of audit report and email the activated Org ID number to audit@eaab.org.za.
It will, however, not be acceptable for auditors of estate agencies to submit the audit reports outside the prescribed timeframe of four months based on the fact that the estate agency experienced delays in obtaining the activated Org ID number.
Principals of estate agencies are encouraged to share the contents of this notification with their auditors in order to avoid late audit submissions arising from difficulties in obtaining the activated Org ID number from FIC.
No extensions will be granted on the prescribed timeframe of submitting audit reports by reason of a delay caused by not obtaining an activated Org ID number from FIC.
AUDIT COMPLIANCE DEPARTMENT
ESTATE AGENCY AFFAIRS BOARD
Email: audit@eaab.org.za
