Who must comply with Registered Company Auditor (RCA) registration + CPD (RG 260)?

RCAs must maintain ASIC registration + 120 hours CPD over 3 years.

Auditors who wish to audit companies and other entities under the Corporations Act 2001 apply to ASIC for registration as a registered company auditor (RCA), or as an authorised audit company (AAC). ASIC registers an individual under s 1280 only if satisfied of three things: prescribed qualifications (an accounting degree with at least 3 years of accounting, including auditing, and 2 years of commercial law, plus a prescribed auditing course) or equivalent qualifications; skills, shown either by an approved auditing competency standard or by at least 3,000 hours of auditing under an RCA's direction in the 5 years before applying, including 750 hours supervising company audits; and that the applicant is capable, fit and proper. ASIC Regulatory Guide 180 explains the process. Registration carries standard conditions in Pro Forma 215, including documented continuing professional development, quality assurance procedures under ASA 220 and professional indemnity insurance of at least $2 million for RCAs registered on or after 30 June 2016. An updated auditing competency standard took effect on 1 October 2026 (ASIC Corporations (Approval of Auditing Competency Standard) Instrument 2026/733). RCAs and AACs must lodge an annual statement with ASIC.

Applies only if you are a registered company auditor or conduct audits. Whether it applies turns on a fact that no industry, structure or size settles on its own.

How the regulator frames it: Individuals registered (or applying to be registered) as company auditors under s 1280, and authorised audit companies under s 1299B, whose directors must all be RCAs and whose shares and voting control must sit with individuals who are RCAs.

What triggers it: Applying for, or holding, registration as a company auditor or authorised audit company in order to conduct audits under the Corporations Act (including audits under ss 307, 308 and 309).

Jurisdiction: Commonwealth law, so the test is the same in every state and territory.

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (1 of 35: only if a further fact applies; 34 of 35: no).

Structure does not change the answer in accountants & bookkeepers: for every structure the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Size does not change the answer in accountants & bookkeepers: at every size band the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

• Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires a trigger outside this questionnaire.
• Pty Ltd company in accountants & bookkeepers with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: check whether it applies. applies only if you are a registered company auditor or conduct audits.

The engine shows this obligation as "check whether this applies" when a business has industry: Accountants & bookkeepers. It then applies only if you are a registered company auditor or conduct audits. That fact is not something Rules Mate can infer from industry, structure or size.

When due

Annual statement (Form 912A for RCAs, Form 912B for AACs) lodged within one month of each anniversary of registration, with extensions only in exceptional circumstances. Registration conditions (CPD, quality assurance, PI insurance) apply continuously; ASIC must be notified of changes in details and of ceasing to practise (Form 905).

Frequency

Annual

Evidence to keep

Form 903 application with qualification letters or transcripts, competency logbook or practical experience record (Document A) and supervisor declaration (Document B), capability report and declarations (Documents C and D); CPD records for auditing and quality assurance; quality assurance procedures under ASA 220; PI insurance certificate (minimum $2 million for post-June 2016 RCAs); annual statements and lodgement receipts.

Status

Current

Priority

High

Maximum penalty: ASIC may refuse registration, impose conditions on registration and take enforcement action where significant non-compliance is identified in its audit inspection and surveillance programs. Breach of the standard registration conditions in Pro Forma 215 puts the registration itself at risk.

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

If this obligation applies to you, so does this one: the engine uses the same rule for each.

• Comply with Australian Auditing Standards (ASA)

Rules Mate tracks 2 published obligations tagged "auditor", 0 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 0 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated high priority and carries criminal liability, and is a annual obligation.

Regulated by Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

ASIC: Corporate regulator administering the Corporations Act, financial services and credit licensing (AFSL/ACL), markets supervision, insolvency, and registries (ASIC and ABRS).

• Australian Securities and Investments Commission

Corporations Act: The foundational federal Act for Australian corporate law.

• Corporations Act 2001

Free tools that help with this obligation:

• Compliance calendar builder