Texas R&D Tax Credit Solutions, an accounting and corporate tax firm, improperly claimed its risk management system was certified to ISO 31000 by registrar International Certifications Ltd (ICL). The website for the tax firm included the claim alongside an outdated logo for ICL.
Oxebridge reported the problem to both ICL and its accreditation body JAS-ANZ, and ICL reported the logo was not used with permission, and Texas Tax Credit was never a client of ICL.
The logo and claim has since been removed.
ISO 31000 is not a standard designed to be used for certification, although some registrars — including ICL, as well as BSI, SGS and SAI Global — offer unaccredited certifications to it.
Oxebridge VP commented on the irony of the incident:
Apparently Texas Tax Credit didn’t assess the risks of using a third party logo without permission to falsely claim certification to a standard that one can’t be certified to, while doing so on the very same page it discusses its “risk management principles”, “in-depth industry knowledge” and “highest levels of quality assurance.”
Representatives from Texas Tax Credit did not reply regarding the incident.
No further investigation is warranted, and JAS-ANZ appears satisfied with the swift actions taken by ICL.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
