Regulator wants systems audit of mutual funds

Within two days of making a series of proposals to prevent Satyam-type accounting scams, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) today said mutual funds would need to have a systems audit conducted by an independent certified information systems auditor (CISA) or its equivalent authority.

The market regulator has advised fund houses that the audit should be conducted once in two years. For financial years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, Sebi said the systems audit should be completed by September 30, 2010.

The domestic mutual fund industry manages assets of over 7.5 lakh crore.

“The audit should be comprehensive, encompassing systems and processes inter alia related to integration of the front-office system with the back-office system, fund accounting system for calculation of net asset values, and financial accounting and reporting systems,” said Sebi.

It added the audit would also look at “unit-holder administration and servicing systems for customer service, fund flow processes, system processes for meeting regulatory requirements, prudential investment limits and access rights to systems interface.”

Nimesh Shah, chief executive officer of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, said, “We welcome this step and we will follow the direction as we have been given a year’s time. It is good for the industry and since the industry is in a serious business of managing people’s wealth, it is an important requirement.”

Fund CEOs that Business Standard spoke to said since new regulatory norms had come up and more players were preparing to enter the market, the systems of fund houses should be in compliance with the new regulatory norms.

Such a move would bring robustness to the industry, they said.

Sebi also asked the fund houses to place both audit and compliance reports before the trustees. These, along with the comments of the trustees, should be communicated to Sebi.