A probe by the country’s leading accounts body may throw up warts on the business side of the country’s hottest sporting event. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) will shortly submit a report on the balance sheets of all the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises amid indications that the accounting regulator has come across violations of auditing norms by some of the teams.
ICAI’s Financial Reporting Review Board (FRRB), an oversight committee set up by the regulator, examined the report on the financial statements of all IPL franchise owners at its board meeting last week.
“The report will be submitted to the Corporate Affairs ministry soon,” said a source who did not wish to be identified. ICAI’s findings are part of a multi-agency probe launched in April this year after swirling allegations of financial irregularities and murky deals hit the popular three-year old league.
While the income tax department is conducting an investigation into tax evasion by entities involved in the league, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials are separately chasing foreign exchange law violations.
ICAI is examining if team owners had contravened auditing norms while presenting their financial statements.
The corporate affairs ministry, which is also separately going through the records of these franchise teams, had expressed concerns over inadequate information in balance sheets and records filed with the Registrar of Companies by some of the IPL franchises.
The eight original franchises have been audited so their balance sheets are being checked for disclosure practices, auditing and accounting compliance
Pune and Kochi team franchises, who won the bids on March 21, 2010, have not been audited as yet.
The government has said it has found company law violations in the ownership pattern in several IPL cricket teams and the Registrar of Companies has been asked to take penal action.
“The preliminary information and reports have indicated non-compliance of certain provisions of the Companies Act, 1956,” Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply last week.
In April, the Registrar of Companies (RoC) had written to all IPL teams seeking complete information.
