A Brief on benefits of Peer Review of Practicing CA Firms

We, the Chartered Accountants Fraternity, are all aware of the peer review process undertaken by the Peer Review Board of ICAI for the practicing member. With recent development in the reporting requirement of the financial statements, the peer review exercise helps the members of the profession at large on the following fronts:

1. Ensure compliances with the recent amendments in The Companies Act, 2013.
2. Ensure compliances of TDS, Service Tax and other Tax Laws which have become part of reporting by practicing Chartered Accountants.
3. Adherence of the Auditing and Accounting Standards which is mandatory for preparation and presentation of financial statements.
4. In meeting pre-selection criteria for allotment of audit by various public sector undertakings (PSUs), banks and other institutions and audit by way of open tender process by public sector undertakings.
5. In complying with the circular issued by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for audit of listed companies’ requirements and C&AG of India for Statutory Audit of Public Sector Companies.

It is to clarify that the Peer Review Exercise is never a burden on the practicing member/CA firm in view of the following:

1. Peer Review is done by the member itself of same standing and mostly from the same area/city in which the auditee firm is located.
2. The consolidated fees for 3 years’ peer review exercise is very nominal which is given below:

The fees for peer review per year comes only 1/3^rd of the above in case selection is made by the peer review board for a normal peer review cycle of three years as per para 3.3 of The Statement on Peer Review. The above said fees is including honorarium and TA/DA for reviewer and his/her qualified assistant as provided in the notification no. PRB/Notfn./008/11-12, issued on August 2011. The above fee is per review in case of those firms who voluntary request for Peer Review of their firms to the Board.

1. The deficiencies pointed out and rectified in the course of peer review are not part of the final report by the peer reviewer.
2. For any firm, it is very difficult to review its own work and get the file updated which now-a-days is required to have the records for reference and evidence for any further enquiries/investigations/cases whenever and wherever it takes place.

The Board also undertakes the workshop on Technical Standards, The Companies Act, 2013, Tax Laws and other applicable laws to update the members in general for timely compliance and quality of reporting.

You are requested to spare some time and also post your suggestions to make Peer Review exercise more meaningful and beneficial to the members.

With Best Regards

CA Shyam Lal Agarwal
Chairman, Peer Review Board