The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has made an announcement regarding the deferment of the second phase of the Peer Review Mandate. The decision to mandate the Peer Review process for a wider coverage of firms was previously taken by the Council. However, considering the readiness of Practice Units and requests for additional time, the applicability of the second phase has been deferred.
The Council, in its 420th Meeting, decided to defer the applicability of the second phase of the Peer Review mandate by three months. This decision was made due to certain Practice Units not being prepared for the review. Subsequently, in the 422nd Meeting, the Council further deferred the applicability of the mandate based on requests from Practice Units that were previously unaware of the Peer Review requirement.
As per the new announcement, the second phase of the Peer Review mandate will be applicable from April 1, 2024, for specific Practice Units. This includes Practice Units undertaking the statutory audit of unlisted public companies meeting certain criteria or rendering attestation services with five or more partners. These Practice Units must have a Peer Review Certificate before accepting any statutory audit.
The Council emphasized that there will be no further deferment of the mandate, and strict compliance is expected from the Practice Units.
Peer Review Board
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
19th July, 2023
Further deferment of second phase of Peer Review Mandate
The Council at its 407th Meeting held from 7th – 9th January 2022 decided to mandate the Peer Review process for coverage of more firms under Peer Review process. An Announcement dated 12.02.2022 in this regard was hosted on the website at https://www.icai.org/post/peer-review-mandate-roll-out . Further clarifications on the mandate were issued by the Council at its 410th Meeting held on 24th – 25th March 2022. An Announcement dated 11.04.2022 in this regard was hosted on the website at https://www.icai.org/post/peer-review-mandate-roll-out-revised .
Considering that some Practice Units which require to get themselves Peer Reviewed under the 2nd phase of the Peer Review mandate were not ready for the same, the Council at its 420th Meeting held on 23rd – 24th March, 2023 decided to defer the applicability of the second phase of the mandate by three months to be made effective from July 1, 2023.
However, requests were being received from the Practice Units that they were not aware of the Peer Review mandate and therefore requested for some additional time to get themselves Peer Reviewed. Considering the same, the Council at its 422nd Meeting held on 30th June – 1st July 2023 decided to further defer the applicability of the 2nd phase of the Peer Review mandate.
Accordingly, the second phase of the mandate is now applicable w.e.f April 1, 2024 for the following Practice Units:
Practice Units which propose to undertake Statutory Audit of unlisted public companies having paid-up capital of not less than rupees five hundred crores or having annual turnover of not less than rupees one thousand crores or having, in aggregate, outstanding loans, debentures and deposits of not less than rupees five hundred crores as on the 31st March of immediately preceding financial year: For these Practice Units, there is a pre-requisite of having Peer Review Certificate.
OR
Practice Units rendering attestation services and having 5 or more partners: For these Practice Units, there is a pre-requisite of having Peer Review Certificate before accepting any Statutory audit.
Accordingly Practice Units which accept Statutory audits on or before March 31, 2024 should ensure that they have a Peer Review Certificate at the time of signing.
The Council also decided that the applicability of the mandate shall under no circumstances be further deferred and the Practice Units shall ensure strict compliance of the same.
