AML & Client Due Diligence Software for Accountants
Accounting firms are AML-regulated in most major markets, and Australia’s Tranche 2 reforms brought many of them in from 1 July 2026. One Constellation gives practices one place to verify clients, see through company ownership, screen for sanctions and PEPs, and keep the records a supervisor will ask for.
Accountants Are Gatekeepers, and Regulators Treat Them That Way
FATF Recommendation 22 brings accountants into the AML regime when they prepare for or carry out certain transactions for clients: buying and selling real estate or businesses, managing client money, securities or accounts, organising contributions to companies, and creating, operating or managing companies and trusts. National laws have followed, so the AML duty now sits alongside the professional one.
Spreadsheet CDD Does Not Survive an Inspection
Supervisors check that you identified the client and its beneficial owners before you acted, and that the evidence is on file. Scattered emails and scanned passports make that hard to show.
Company Clients Come in Layers
Tax, bookkeeping and company secretarial clients are often companies or trusts. You need to see through holding structures to the natural persons who own or control them.
New Regimes and Active Supervisors
Australian firms providing designated services had to enrol with AUSTRAC within 28 days of starting them. In March 2026 Hong Kong’s AFRC announced its first AML disciplinary actions against accounting practice units.
Client Due Diligence Built for Accounting Practices
The checks you run for every new engagement, in one workflow, with the evidence kept against the client record.
Customer KYC
Document, biometric and data checks to identify and verify individual customers, with PEP and sanctions screening in the same flow.
KYB & UBO Discovery
Verify company and trust clients, their directors and shareholders, and trace layered ownership to the natural persons behind them.
Sanctions, PEP & Adverse Media Screening
Screen customers and related parties against sanctions, PEP and adverse-media sources, with re-screening when lists change.
Customer Risk Assessment
Multi-factor client risk scoring that takes account of the services you provide and sets the level of due diligence and the review cycle.
Enhanced Due Diligence
Structured EDD workflows for higher-risk customers, including source-of-funds and source-of-wealth capture.
Compliance Portal & Audit Trail
Risk assessments, periodic reviews and audit-ready records for every customer in one place.
AML Rules for Accountants by Jurisdiction
Who is covered, and who supervises, differs by market. This is the position as of October 2026.
Australia. Since 1 July 2026 the AML/CTF Act covers nine professional services provided in the course of a business. They include helping clients buy or sell real estate or a business, managing client money or property as part of a transaction, arranging finance, selling shelf companies, creating or restructuring companies and trusts, acting as or arranging nominee directors and shareholders, and providing a registered office. A firm must enrol with AUSTRAC within 28 days of starting a designated service, then maintain an AML/CTF program with a risk assessment and an AML/CTF compliance officer, carry out customer due diligence, report suspicious matters and keep records.
United Kingdom. Regulation 11 of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 covers auditors, external accountants, tax advisers and insolvency practitioners. Most firms are supervised by a professional body listed in Schedule 1, such as ICAEW, ACCA or CIOT, and HMRC supervises those with no professional body supervisor. The government has chosen the FCA as the single supervisor for professional services. The FCA says nothing changes immediately and expects to start taking on supervision in late 2028.
Singapore. Public accounting entities and public accountants are subject to the Accountants (Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism) Rules 2023 when they carry out FATF-designated transactions for clients, and ACRA can inspect and sanction them. Under the Corporate Service Providers Act 2024, in force since 9 June 2025, accounting firms that provide corporate services must register with ACRA as corporate service providers. Public accounting entities are deemed registered but must appoint a registered qualified individual.
Hong Kong, the UAE and the EU. Hong Kong’s AMLO has covered accounting professionals since 1 March 2018, and the AFRC has been their regulatory body since 1 October 2022. In the UAE, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism supervises independent accountants and auditors as DNFBPs, and firms must register on goAML. In the EU, auditors, external accountants and tax advisers stay in scope under the AML Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, which applies from 10 July 2027.
For the Services That Bring AML Duties
Tax and Advisory Clients
Identify and verify new individual and company clients before the engagement starts, and re-screen them while it runs.
Company Formation and Secretarial
Verify incorporators, directors and shareholders, and record the beneficial owners of the entities you set up or administer.
Business Sales and Restructuring
KYB on the buyer, the seller and the target, with sanctions and PEP screening on every party to the deal.
Handling Client Money
Capture source of funds and apply enhanced due diligence when you receive or manage money for a client.
Accountants AML FAQ
- Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (current compilation)
- AUSTRAC: professional designated services
- Money Laundering Regulations 2017, regulation 11
- FCA: AML supervisory reform
- ACRA: public accountants
- ACRA: Corporate Service Providers Act
- AFRC press release, 5 March 2026
- UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism: AML
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1624
- FATF: Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach for the Accounting Profession (2019)
General information, not legal advice. Requirements change — check the current rules with your regulator.
Make Client Due Diligence the Easy Part of Onboarding
See how an accounting practice can verify clients, map ownership and keep inspection-ready records in one place.
