ICAI sends notices to 11 more CA cos with foreign tie-ups

Widening the scope of its enquiry regarding practices adopted by foreign auditing firms to operate in India through surrogate entities, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has asked 11 more domestic chartered accountancy firms to furnish details of operational arrangement with them.

"We have issued notices to 11 more firms. We have asked them about their agreement with multinational entity, partnership deed, income tax assessment orders of the last three years and other things," ICAI President Uttam Prakash Agarwal said in statement.

Last week, the ICAI had sought similar details from 12 domestic auditing firms.

The decision assumes importance in the light of fraud in Satyam Computer Services, whose books of accounts were audited by Price Waterhouse, Indian arm of global auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Following disclosure of fraud by Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, the institute constituted a seven-member committee headed by Agarwal to look into the role of auditors in the scam.