The company auditor for United Global Capital (UGC) and the Global Capital Property Fund (GCPF) has been barred from working in that capacity for failing to carry out his duties, adding to a series of actions taken against financial services professionals linked to the advice firm.
The Companies Auditors Disciplinary Board (CADB) cancelled the registration of company auditor Ryan William O’Shea on 24 October after it found he failed to carry out or perform adequately and properly his duties as auditor of UGC for the financial years ended 30 June 2021 and 2022, GCPF for the financial years ended 30 June 2021, 2022 and 2023 and the UGC Global Alpha Fund for the financial years ended 30 June 2021 and 2022.
In cancelling O’Shea’s registration, the CADB determined he failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence concerning the value of GCPF’s investments in 15 property developments, five of which were related to the fund’s directors, which totalled $93 million in the 2023 financial year.
Additionally, he did not obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence concerning unit trust investments held by the Alpha Fund of around $6.5 million and the recoverability of loans from UGC to its sole director Joel Hewish, for which there were no loan agreements or representations from the company’s management provided.
The board also found the extensive and serious nature of the audit failures meant O’Shea was not a fit and proper person to remain a registered company auditor.
UGC remains the subject of an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) into its activities, including advising people to invest more than $92 million into the GCPF and Alpha Fund, with much of the funds invested coming from SMSFs.
ASIC stated the company used a client onboarding and advice process that lured people into investing their retirement savings in UGC-related products, including recommending speculative investments in GCPF.
The corporate watchdog has taken a series of actions against the company, with the GCPF being wound up on court orders obtained by the regulator and its licence cancelled, while UGC director James Hewish was banned for 10 years.
