The Ministry of Corporate Affairs(MCA) has issued a notice on 6th February, 2020, inviting comments on the consultation paper to examine the existing provisions of law and make suitable amendments therein to enhance audit independence and accountability.
The paper suggest measures to remove the self-interest threat, the self-review threat, the familiarity threat and the intimidation threat. The suggestions of stakeholders are invited in the following issues:
(a) What are the way outs to remove economic concentration of audit?
(b) Whether number of audits under one audit firm/ Auditor be reduced?
(c) Whether the number of partners under one audit firm be reduced or fixed?
(d) How the burden of these Big-4 can be reduced? Which other audit firms in India are able to compete with them and reduce the workload of Big the 4?
(e) Are the auditors in listed companies be appointed from a separate panel 7 of auditors prepared by NFRA?
(f) Whether the home grown Indian audit firms are equipped with the audit procedures, audit tools, manpower capacity to handle the audit of large organisations?
Suggestions/comments on the above mentioned consultation paper along with justification in brief may be sent latest by 28th February, 2020 through email at audit.policy@mca.gov.in .
Click here to read the Notification.
