Rangachari Sridharan appointed chief of National Financial Reporting Authority

Former IAS officer Rangachari Sridharan was Friday appointed as first chief of National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), according to an official order.

Sridharan, a 1983 batch (retired) IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, will hold the post of chairperson, NFRA, for three years or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years, the order said.

Besides him, Prasenjit Mukherjee has been appointed as full-time member of the authority for the same tenure, the order issued by Personnel Ministry said.

Mukherjee is a 1980 batch (retired) officer of Indian Audit and Accounts Service.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on March 1, approved establishment of the NFRA and creation of one post of chairperson, three posts of full-time members and one post of Secretary.

The NFRA is mandated to act as an independent regulator for the auditing profession. It will help in better regulation of financial audit of large companies.

The need for establishing NFRA had arisen in the wake of accounting scams, for enforcement of auditing standards and ensuring the quality of audits to strengthen the independence of audit firms, among others.