Bury accountancy firm named for breaching money laundering rules

Key Points

• Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP, based on Crompton Street in Bury town centre, has been publicly named by the UK Government for breaching money laundering regulations.
• His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), acting as a supervisor under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, imposed a civil penalty of £1,950 on the firm.
• According to the Government’s published notice, the firm failed to apply for registration with HMRC as required for trust or company service providers (TCSPs).
• The period of non‑compliance stated in the official statistics runs from 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025.
• Details of the breach and penalty were later added to the Government’s public register of non‑compliant businesses, updated on Tuesday, 6 January.
• The case forms part of a broader HMRC enforcement drive to improve compliance with anti‑money laundering (AML) standards among professional services firms, including accountants, estate agents and TCSPs.
• The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require relevant businesses to register with an appropriate supervisory body, perform risk‑based customer due diligence, and maintain internal controls to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
• Being “named and shamed” on the HMRC website can damage a firm’s reputation and may have commercial implications beyond the relatively modest financial penalty.
• There is no public indication in the Government notice that the breach involved any specific criminal money laundering scheme; the cited failure relates to regulatory registration at the required time.
• The case underscores the increasing scrutiny of smaller regional firms and the expectation that even relatively small accountancy practices must meet the same AML obligations as larger national firms.

Bury (Independent Business Desk) January 19, 2026 – Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP, an accountancy and company services practice on Crompton Street in Bury town centre, has been named by the Government and handed a £1,950 civil penalty after HM Revenue and Customs ruled it breached money laundering regulations by failing to register at the required time.

What has the Government said about the Bury firm?

The Government has disclosed the penalty in an official notice listing businesses that have failed to comply with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017. As set out in that notice, HMRC states that Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP was penalised for “failing to apply for registration at the required time,” resulting in a £1,950 sanction for the Bury‑based firm.

Under the regulations, HMRC has a statutory duty to publish details of businesses that do not comply with the regime once enforcement action has been taken. The same Government material records that the non‑compliance by Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP occurred between 1 October 2024 and 31 March 2025, with the updated statistics appearing on the public website on Tuesday, 6 January.

Why was Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP penalised?

As described in the Government’s entry, the issue relates specifically to the timing of registration under the AML supervision framework rather than, for example, a failure of due diligence on a specific client file. The published summary states that Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP did not apply for registration with HMRC at the time required for a trust or company service provider operating under the UK’s AML rules.

Trust and company service providers are classified as high‑risk for money laundering and must therefore register with a supervisory authority, which in this case is HMRC. The Money Laundering Regulations 2017, in force since 26 June 2017, oblige such firms to seek registration before providing regulated services, and failing to do so can attract financial penalties and publication on HMRC’s non‑compliance list.

What are the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and HMRC’s role?

The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 form the backbone of the UK’s preventative framework against illicit finance, translating European and international standards into domestic law. The regime requires businesses in sectors such as accountancy, legal services, estate agency and company formation to carry out risk‑based customer checks, monitor transactions and maintain records designed to identify and deter money laundering and terrorist financing.

Under these regulations, HMRC is designated as a supervisory authority for a range of businesses, including certain accountants and trust or company service providers. In this supervisory role, HMRC conducts compliance checks, issues guidance and, where necessary, takes enforcement action, which can include financial penalties, directions to improve controls, suspension, or cancellation of registration, as well as the public naming of firms that fail to comply.

How serious is the penalty for the Bury business?

Financially, the £1,950 penalty is modest compared with some of the larger fines occasionally seen across the professional services sector for more extensive or repeated breaches. However, the public nature of the sanction and the appearance of Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP on the Government’s AML non‑compliance list may carry longer‑term reputational consequences for a local practice whose client base is likely to rely on trust and perceived probity.

Regulatory specialists note that even relatively small penalties demonstrate the escalating expectations placed on professional advisers to understand and implement the UK’s AML framework. For a regional firm, the prospect of being listed publicly by HMRC can be a powerful incentive to ensure timely registration, ongoing training and periodic reviews of AML policies and procedures, regardless of size.

Has Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP responded?

At the time of writing, there is no separate public statement from Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP available in the official Government material that records the penalty. The Government entry simply sets out the name of the business, its location on Crompton Street in Bury town centre, the nature of the breach relating to failing to apply for registration, the relevant period of non‑compliance and the amount of the penalty.

In the absence of a published comment from the firm in those materials, there is no publicly documented explanation from the company as to the circumstances that led to the late registration or any remedial actions it may have taken following HMRC’s intervention. For a small practice, such incidents are often followed internally by a review of governance and compliance arrangements to prevent recurrence, but no such review has been detailed in the Government statistics.

How does this case fit into wider HMRC AML enforcement?

The published sanction for Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP appears within a broader schedule of enforcement actions that HMRC periodically updates as part of its statutory duty to publish information on penalties for breaches of the Money Laundering Regulations. These schedules typically include a mix of businesses from across the country, representing sectors such as accountancy, company services, estate agency and money service businesses.

Recent releases have shown HMRC focusing increasingly on smaller regional practices as well as larger firms, indicating a supervisory strategy that does not confine enforcement to major corporate players. The listing of the Bury firm, alongside other businesses receiving varying penalty amounts, highlights how HMRC uses financial sanctions and public naming to signal the importance of full compliance to the wider regulated community.

What do the rules require for registration and compliance?

Under the UK’s AML regime, a business that falls within the regulated sector must register with the appropriate supervisory authority before offering services that involve specified financial or corporate activities. For trust and company service providers like Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP, this includes services such as forming companies, acting or arranging for others to act as company directors or secretaries, or providing registered offices and related functions.

In addition to initial registration, regulated businesses must maintain ongoing compliance programmes that cover customer due diligence, enhanced checks for higher‑risk situations, continuous monitoring, record‑keeping and internal reporting channels for suspicious activity. Failure to register at the required time can be treated as a substantive breach because, without registration, a supervisory authority cannot effectively oversee the adequacy of those internal controls.

What might this mean for clients and local businesses in Bury?

For existing and potential clients of Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP in Bury, the Government listing may prompt questions about the firm’s governance and compliance culture, even though the breach recorded relates solely to late registration rather than a specific money laundering case. Local businesses that rely on the firm for accountancy or company services might seek reassurance about the robustness of its AML controls and staff training.

At a wider level, the public naming of a firm in a local town centre underlines to other small and medium‑sized practices that regulatory expectations apply equally across the country. The case is likely to be cited by compliance advisers as a reminder to review registration status, update AML risk assessments and ensure that any changes in business structure or services are promptly notified to the relevant supervisor to avoid similar penalties.

How does public “naming and shaming” affect regulated firms?

The practice of publishing the details of non‑compliant firms is built into the Money Laundering Regulations as a transparency and deterrence measure. For Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP, being listed on the HMRC website means that suppliers, banks, clients and professional counterparties can readily see that the firm has been sanctioned for an AML breach within the period October 2024 to March 2025.

Compliance experts often point out that, while financial penalties can be absorbed, the longer‑term risk lies in the potential impact on business relationships and the additional scrutiny that may follow from financial institutions and counterparties. Firms publicly named may find that they are subject to more probing questions during bank onboarding, insurer renewals or tenders, as partners seek comfort that issues have been rectified and governance strengthened.

Could there be further consequences beyond the penalty?

The information presently available in the Government’s published statistics does not indicate any follow‑on enforcement steps against Go Accounting and Business Ltd TCSP beyond the £1,950 penalty and its appearance on the non‑compliance list. In the absence of further published action, the assumption is that HMRC has treated the matter as concluded once the penalty was imposed and the breach recorded.

However, once a firm has been sanctioned, it can expect closer engagement from its supervisor in subsequent years, with potential follow‑up visits or desk‑based reviews focusing on how the business has addressed the specific failings identified. Should any future inspection reveal further breaches, HMRC has the power to impose higher penalties, restrict or cancel registration, or pursue other sanctions provided for within the AML framework.