Auditors

Transactions auditor BDO India has detected three potentially fraudulent or wrongful transactions worth Rs 63.34 crore under the erstwhile management of Hindusthan National Glass & Industries Ltd (HNG) during the three financial years 2019-20 to 2021-22. The three entities reportedly involved in the fraudulent or wrongful trading are Rafbrix International (Rs 15.10 crore), Maithan Ceramic Ltd (Rs 5.78 crore), and Durvish Vyapaar Pvt Ltd (Rs 42.46 crore), as per the report submitted to NCLT as part of the resolution process of the debt-ridden company. The auditor in its report said it is concluded that outstanding advances amounting to Rs 15.10 crores, Rafbrix International, is a potential diversion of funds and the same can be classified under section 66 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) as 'fraudulent or wrongful trading'. A similar observation was made in the case of HNG trading with Durvish Vyapaar Pvt Ltd (Rs 42.46 crore) after negative physical site visit, absence ..

Oppo Mobiles India was flagged by its auditor for a negative net worth of ₹3,551 crore as of FY24. Realme India was pulled up for procedural lapses and inadequate record-keeping during the period

Auditors seek clarity on whether the ₹2,000 crore loss stems from fraud or accounting irregularity

The regulator has stated that the tenure of appointment of a secretarial auditor cannot be for a period less than five years

Guardrails set to defend against ambiguity and strengthen compliance

NFRA found that ZEEL had misappropriated its money and made unauthorised transactions with related parties without the approval of the audit committee, the board, and shareholders

For a Viksit Bharat, India cannot afford audit standards that are inferior, NFRA Chairperson Ajay Bhushan Pandey said

Sources said that the regulator could soon notify the new standards for select entities

NFRA found that the auditors deliberately chose to shy away from their statutory duty to report the fraud and protect the public interest

The finance ministry on Wednesday said more than 34.84 lakh audit reports, including about 34.09 lakh Tax Audit Reports (TARs), have been filed for assessment year 2024-25 on the e-filing portal till October 7. The income tax department had extended the date for filing the audit report from September 30 to October 7. There is an increase in the filing of TARs for the AY 2024-25 by around 4.8 per cent compared to the filings of TARs on the due date for AY 2023-24. "To assist taxpayers, the department conducted extensive outreach programmes through emails, SMSs, webinars, social media campaigns and messages on the Income Tax portal to create and raise awareness among the taxpayers about filing TARs and other audit forms by the due date. Various user awareness videos were uploaded on the Income Tax portal to provide guidance," the ministry said in a release. It further said that these concerted efforts have been helpful to taxpayers and tax professionals in timely compliance in filing

The NFRA report highlights serious violations of Section 144 of the Companies Act, which bans firms from offering certain non-audit services to their audit clients

The revised standards hold that the group auditor is ultimately responsible for the audit

Auditors of PSBs, their branches, and PSUs will not be covered by ISA 600

The Standard on Auditing (SA) 570 requires the auditor to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence that a company is a going concern and will continue its operations for the foreseeable future

NFRA has issued orders against several audit firms in India in the past, including the "Big Four", around the auditors' independence and their non-audit work

The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has slapped penalties totalling Rs 2.5 crore on two auditors for professional misconduct and auditing lapses in the Reliance Commercial Finance case for FY2018-19. The audit regulator imposed a fine of Rs 2 crore on Shridhar & Associates and Rs 50 lakh on Ajay Vastani. In addition, the regulator also barred Vastani for 5 years from undertaking any audit in respect of financial statements or internal audit of the functions and activities of any company or body corporate. The order came after the corporate affairs ministry informed NFRA that Price Waterhouse & Co Chartered Accountants LLP (PW) had filed a report to the ministry under the Companies Act, 2013. Thereafter, PW resigned as the auditor of RCFL, without issuing an audit report for FY 2018-19. Further, Shridhar & Associates was appointed by the board of directors of RCFL in June 2019 as the statutory auditor of the company. On examination of the audit file of RCFL ...

The auditors at Big Five firms said the remuneration does not justify the risks, work stress, and investments in technology and talent

Zomato on Sunday said the auditor of its subsidiaries Zomato Hyperpure and Blink Commerce has resigned with immediate effect, paving the way for the food tech platform's auditor Deloitte Haskins & Sells to be appointed in its place to make the audit process more efficient. Batliboi & Associates, who was appointed as statutory auditors of the two wholly-owned subsidiaries for five years beginning April 1, 2023, till the conclusion of the 13th AGM, resigned w.e.f. May 12, 2024, Zomato said in a regulatory filing. "Further to our various discussions and email dated May 8, 2024, from the Global Controller Finance, Zomato Limited, we understand that the holding company's management wants to align the statutory auditor of the company with the auditors of the holding company responsible for the audit of consol accounts to avoid some duplication and bring some efficiencies in the audit process at group level," Batliboi & Associates stated. In the regulatory filing, Zomato informed

The average audit fee in India was Rs 0.93 crore per company in FY23, up from Rs 0.91 crore in FY22

The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has slapped penalties totalling Rs 4.5 crore on an audit firm and two auditors for professional misconduct for alleged auditing lapses of Reliance Capital's financials in 2018-19. A fine of Rs 3 crore has been imposed on Pathak H D & Associates, Rs 1 crore on Parimal Kumar Jha and Rs 50 lakh on Vishal D Shah. Besides, Jha and Shah have been debarred from taking up audit work for 10 years and 5 years, respectively, according to an order. Jha was the Engagement Partner (EP) and Shah was the Engagement Quality Control Review (EQCR) Partner for the statutory audit of Reliance Capital for 2018-19 fiscal. For 2018-19, the company was jointly audited by Price Waterhouse & Co LLP (PW) and Pathak HD & Associates. PW reported suspected fraud regarding loans and investments amounting to approximately Rs 12,571 crore to some group companies. In the order dated April 12, the NFRA said that despite the reporting of suspected fraud and ...