The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ( ICAI ) has permitted the communication with the Retiring Auditor through E-Mail.
In a statement issued by ICAI said that the members have raised concerns that during the period of ongoing lockdown, it is not possible for the Incoming Auditor to communicate with the Retiring Auditor through the mode(s) of communication permissible in terms of provisions of Code of Ethics.
The existing Code of Ethics, 2009, provides, under commentary to Clause (8) of Part-I of First Schedule to The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 as under:-
“Members should, therefore, communicate with a retiring auditor in such a manner as to retain in their hand’s positive evidence of the delivery of the communication to the addressee. In the opinion of the Council, communication by a letter sent “Registered Acknowledgement due” or by hand against a written acknowledgement would in the normal course provide such evidence.”
The ICAI also said that “due to the existing constraint of communication through above-mentioned modes, it has been decided that the members may communicate with the Retiring Auditor vide E-mail, provided an acknowledgement of such communication is received from the Retiring Auditor’s E-mail address registered with the Institute or his last known official E-mail address. Such acknowledgement of communication would be deemed as valid evidence of positive delivery of communication”.
