By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Prime Minister yesterday met with the Ministry of Finance and Bahamian accountants to address a "very serious issue" over planned changes to business licence regulations.

Dr Hubert Minnis, pictured, admitted to the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountant (BICA) conference that the situation has "gained much commentary", with the body now preparing to set out its concerns in writing.

Gowon Bowe, BICA's president, told Tribune Business: "Our membership has concerns, and we have raised them with the Department of Inland Revenue, the Ministry of Finance and the minister himself.

"We are in the process of writing to them formally as it relates to what the accounting professional standards say in terms of audits etc, and what they have written; how does that juxtapose against those, and really making recommendations on what is the most appropriate attestation that they should be looking for."

He further explained: "Under the new regulations, only businesses over $10m [in turnover] are required to actually have attestation of their business license application done, whereas before it was $500,000 and then it went to $1m. It dropped to $100,000 in 2015.

"There is concern as to whether the ministry appropriately considered the level of attestation for companies under $10m. I think the aim was to make it easier for businesses, but they were asked to file full financial statements, which has never been done before, and bank statements for the year."

Mr Bowe said companies have expressed concern over the need to provide banking statements, adding: "Businesses have expressed a tremendous amount of concern over submitting bank statements, which are very private and personal and don't represent solely the sales and expenses.

"They may have loans and repayments, capital contributions and dividends. They may have a whole slew of cash flows that run though and have nothing to do with revenue, which is upon which you pay the Business License.

"We're really saying that for those over $10m, to require an audit when you have [year-end at] December 31 and [Business License filing/payment in] March, even public companies are not getting them out in that time, though there may be some. Even regulated entities under the Central Bank, the Insurance Commission and Securities Commission have until April. When you're asking for an audit, even though those are larger companies, it shows a lack of understanding of what goes into an audit."

Dr Minnis touched on the issue during his address to BICA members at the opening of Accountants Wee, saying: "Amendments to the Business License regulations have garnered much commentary. The technical staff is in the process of working with the council of BICA to address the objectives of the Government. I meet this evening at 3pm with members of the Ministry of Finance and BICA. Business License is a very serious issue."