Multipurpose Empanelment Form (MEF) 2007-08. View Multipurpose Panel 2007-08 Corrections are being processed, the final panel will be available as soon as possible.

Tarun Ghia Vs. The State of Maharashtra and others The Petitioner is a Chartered Accountant in practice and claims to be qualified to undertake the audit of societies as contemplated under Section 81 (1)(a) and 81(1)(b) of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960. He was on the panel of auditors maintained by the Divisional Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies – Respondent No.3. According to the Petitioner the powers of empanelment, removal and other matters relating to functioning of the Chartered Accounts in contemplation to those provision was arbitrary and discretionary; and the Respondents were acting in a very unfair manner. On these 2 premises the Petitioner prayed for an issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction directing Respondent No.3 to produce the entire records in connection with the list of societies with basic details like turnover, working capital, audit fees of the previous year and the Respondents be directed to prepare proper guidelines introducing transparency and fairness in empanelment of the auditors for awarding of auditing work in the co-operative societies. The Petitioner has further prayed that Respondent No.3 should publish the list and the consideration for empanelment should be objective and not supported by extraneous criteria.

Section 271B, read with section 44AB, of the Income-tax, 1961 – Penalty – For failure to get accounts audited – Assessment years 1987-88 to 1989-90 – Whether section 271B is not attracted in a case where no account has been maintained and instead recourse under section 271A can be taken – Held, yes

Companies Act, 1956 -· A company is required to maintain its books of account and vouchers for a period of 8 years immediately preceding the current year. · A s. 25 company is required to maintain its books of account and vouchers for a period of not less than 4 years. · The books and papers of the Amalgamated/Transferor Company must be not be disposed of without the prior permission of the Central Government

All tax deductors / collectors are required to file the TDS / TCS returns in Form No.24Q (for tax deducted from salaries), Form No.26Q (for tax deducted from payments other than salaries) or Form No.27EQ (for tax collected at source). These forms require details of all tax deductions with name and permanent account number (PAN) of parties from whom tax was deducted.

This programme of enterprise-wide risk management was highly successful and resulted in substantial savings and structured decision-making with learnings for the company. The Board appreciated the consulting role of the Internal Audit Department which had fulfilled its role aptly described as ‘Best Practice Transfer and Risk Management’ and directed the CIA to ensure that this programme was spread to all functions of the company. The Board also directed the CIA to submit a list of top 50 risks (along with remedial measure taken and proposals for taking remedial measures, if not already undertaken) identified during the exercise every quarter. The structure of risk management within the company was thus institutionalised.

Using several features of the audit tools, the auditor was able to increase the depth of his audit and also do it faster. In this way, he was able to focus on streamlining processes and spend more time interacting with officials on business issues which were useful sources for analytical information. This was appreciated by the management.

Using the analysis done offline in India, the auditors were able to focus their energies during a short visit on the core-concern areas and arrive at conclusions that were startling. Considering the focus on accountability in the US with the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, the CEO and the CFO were taken aback at the status of internal controls in their organisation. Emergency measures to establish an elaborate exercise for implementing a robust internal control system with self- ssessment questionnaires was taken. Considering the success that Raj and his team had in meeting these new challenges, the management asked Raj whether his team would take this assignment in addition to the audit responsibility, which he gladly accepted. This resulted in considerable cost savings. Further, looking at the tremendous cost savings and approach towards auditing by Raj and his team, a performance bonus was sanctioned.

The top management of a chemical company, with 400 crores turnover, is extremely happy with its internal audit department specially with the cost saving measures recommended by the department. The company has two plants in Thane (Mumbai) and Vapi (Gujarat), with its corporate headquarters. The company is presently facing problems with high cost of production and is finding that the products manufactured at its Thane and Vapi plants are not competitive vis-à-vis other chemical manufacturers in the organised sector. The company also finds that the shutdown hours for the factories were quite high. The Managing Director holds a meeting with the Chief Internal Auditor (CIA) and requests him to conduct a review of Thane and Vapi plant production units’ operations and suggest improvement measures to ensure that the plant is more efficient and effective to maintain its competitiveness vis-à-vis the threat from competitors. He also informs the CIA how important it is to reduce cost of operations, failing which he is concerned that the units would have to be closed down in the near future.

Timely preparation of manual for all major processes at CFS helped the company to run the operations effectively and efficiently. The manual preparation exercise created a bond between the internal audit team and the operational staff which resulted in a healthy interaction during continuous monthly internal audit. The internal audit issues raised found acceptability and quick implementation of suggestions by auditees which led to strengthening of the business processes. The Managing Director appreciated the efforts of the internal audit team.