The dilemma of the concurrent auditor of bank branches accepting specific assignments has been clarified by the Indian Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI). The members have asked the Institute for advice on the subject of the Concurrent Auditor of Bank Branches accepting particular tasks.
The Statutory Audit of the financial statements of a Bank Branch cannot be performed by the Concurrent Auditor/Internal Auditor, nor can they be certified as audited financial statements.
Regarding the Long Form Audit Report (LFAR), the ICAI asked the members to check the FAQs published in the website.
The concurrent Auditor of a Branch can undertake the assignment of LFAR only with respect to Branches which are not subject to Statutory Audit. With respect to Branches which are subject to Statutory Audit, the LFAR assignment shall be undertaken by the Statutory Auditor.
As per the notification, the concurrent auditor/internal auditor is only permitted to take on the certification assignment for a bank branch if the certificates are directed to the bank’s management and not to the statutory auditor, a regulator, or to no one in particular.
As per the FAQs mentioned in the website the assignment of a (quarterly) limited review for the same bank cannot be done concurrently with a concurrent audit since doing so violates the Code of Ethics because the concurrent audit is a type of internal audit and the quarterly limited review is a type of statutory audit.
The assignment of a (quarterly) limited review for the same bank cannot be done concurrently with a concurrent audit since doing so violates the Code of Ethics because the concurrent audit is a type of internal audit and the quarterly limited review is a type of statutory audit.
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