By Adam Williamson CoronavirusAAT’s practice assurance and anti-money laundering monitoring activity continues7 Apr 2020 AAT’s Professional Standards Team recognise that coronavirus (Covid-19) is creating exceptional circumstances for everyone but we will be trying to continue with our compliance monitoring activity where possible. We appreciate that this is a time when all of us are dealing with completely unprecedented, and very difficult, changes and challenges so we will try and be as flexible and supportive as possible.Why are you still carrying out reviews during the Covid-19 outbreak?The reason for us continuing to do so is that it has been made clear to AAT by regulatory bodies such as OPBAS and ICO (responsible for enforcement of anti-money laundering and data protection respectively) that there is no change in their expectations of AAT when it comes to ensuring our licensed members are meeting the associated practice standards, particularly in respect of our role as an anti-money laundering supervisory authority. If you have recently been contacted to tell you that your firm has been selected for a review, please do not worry. This is for AAT and our representatives to start planning in dates and times. You will not be contacted by the scheduling team for a few weeks, and scheduling will be agreed at a convenient time to you, obviously considering any ongoing situation. We will, of course, be happy to defer reviews in the interim if necessary or where circumstances change.What will happen if I am due to have an onsite visit?Following recent Government guidance, we will not be carrying out onsite monitoring reviews for the foreseeable future. If your firm was scheduled to have an onsite review in the next few months, a member of our representative’s scheduling team will contact you shortly before the planned review date to explore whether the monitoring review can be performed remotely.If it is not possible, your monitoring review may have to be deferred slightly until later in the year. In these cases, you may be asked to provide documentation and information so our reviewers can undertake a desk-top review in the meantime.If you need to discuss your review because your business has been affected by Covid-19, please email us. Alternatively, some licensed members have asked if their review can be brought forward, given increased capacity. If you would like to bring forward your firm’s monitoring review, please let us know.Further reading:Coronavirus help and informationAAT President: 8 takeaways from the coronavirus crisisCan HMRC cope with the pressure of Covid-19? Adam Williamson is AAT's Head of Professional Standards.