Disciplinary outcome: Max Keeping

1. He provided self-employed accountancy services to the public whilst not licensed to provide such services and was not subject to an exemption
2. He provided self-employed accountancy services to the public without being registered with a supervisory authority within the meaning of The Money Laundering Regulations
3. On or around 20 August 2020, he completed an AAT membership reinstatement application in which he answered “No” to the statement, “I am providing self-employed accountancy or bookkeeping services to the public”
4. On or around 24 March 2022, 31 January 2023 and 13 March 2024, he completed AAT’s annual declaration returns wherein he answered “No” to the statement, “I provide self-employed accountancy or bookkeeping services to the public”
5. His conduct at Allegation 3 and Allegation 4 was misleading
6. He filed with HMRC a substantially different unaudited financial statements for [“Firm A”], for the period ended 31 May 2023, as was previously approved by the directors of [“Firm A”]
7. He received funds from “Firm A” for the purpose of discharging [“Firm A’s] corporation tax liability to HMRC, he failed to pay such monies to HMRC; and failed to return said monies to [“Firm A”] in whole or in part
8. He failed to submit tax returns for [“Firm A”] to HMRC by the statutory filing deadlines, thereby causing [“Firm A”] to incur a financial penalty totalling £200
9. He failed to fully respond to a professional enquiry from [Certified Bookkeeper Y] in connection to [Firm B]
10. He failed to respond to a professional enquiry from [Certified Bookkeeper Y] in connection to [Firm C].

By reason of the conduct set out in the Allegations above, Max Keeping is guilty of misconduct pursuant to Article 21 of AAT’s Articles of Association.

Max Keeping is hereby:

1. Expelled indefinitely
2. Fined £9,500
3. Divested of his fellow member status
4. Warned about his future conduct.

The decision of the Investigations Team shall stand as an Order of the Association pursuant to Regulations 5.2 and 5.3 of the Disciplinary Regulations.