Digital Bank Confirmation Portal for Auditors & Auditees

Digital Bank Confirmation Portal for Auditors & Auditees – User Guidance Document – 1st July 2025

1. The Digital Balance Confirmation Portal (DBCP) has been conceptualised and developed by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) with knowledge assistance where relevant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). PSB Alliance Private Limited (PSBA) and National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL) have jointly developed this application which is developed, hosted and maintained by NeSL . The objective of this portal is to provide a transparent, streamlined, and fully digital platform for auditors, auditee entities, and banks to manage the entire process of consent management, requesting, generating, and deliverance of digitally signed bank balance confirmation certificates.

2. As of now, the portal is available for digital mode of bank balance confirmations for Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and UCO. Hence if any of your audit clients are banking with the above banks, digital confirmation certificates will be feasible

3. The portal envisages the following simple steps

a. Registration of Auditee – Client
b. Registration of the auditor
c. Linkage of the bank by the client
d. Linkage of the auditor by the auditee – client
e. Request for certificate by the auditor
f. Payment by Auditee – client
g. Generation of Digitally signed certificates

4. A detailed user guidance document is placed for your ready reference. In case of any queries, kindly reach out to CA. Vivek Kumar – ICAI/AASB/IP Marg, New Delhi at aasb.support3@icai.in

Digital Balance
Confirmation Portal (DBCP)

Preamble

Financial Audits are a crucial underpinning in ensuring the integrity of the financial reporting processes in the rapidly evolving global landscape. Audit evidence gathered by the Auditor is core to the issuance of the audit opinion on the financial statements of an entity. Independent external evidence enhances the quality of audits to be more efficient and effective. Standards on Auditing SA 505 specifically provides for External Confirmations in an audit process

The present processes of obtaining confirmations by auditors are largely manual, time consuming and less standardised than expectations. This acquires significance especially in the context of Bank Balance Confirmations as banking transactions and balances in terms of both assets and liabilities of an auditee are often material items in the financial statements.

There was a significant need expressed by various stakeholders – Auditors, Auditee entities and Banks which are the Information Providers to enable a seamless digital platform to obtain and retain Bank balance confirmations.

The Digital Balance Confirmation Portal (DBCP) has been conceptualised and developed by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) with knowledge assistance where relevant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). PSB Alliance Private Limited (PSBA) and National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL) have jointly developed this application which is developed, hosted and maintained by NeSL

The DBCP is designed to provide a transparent, streamlined, and fully digital platform for auditors, auditee entities, and banks to manage the entire process of consent management, requesting, generating, and deliverance of digitally signed bank balance confirmation certificates. The portal ensures end-to-end traceability of requests, standardisation of formats, defined turnaround times, and, most importantly, the integrity and authenticity of data through digitally signed certificates directly delivered by banks to auditors through the platform

This User Guidance Manual has been developed to serve as a comprehensive guide, in the form of logically sequenced Questions and Answers, for auditors, auditee entities, banks, and administrators, to enable effective and widespread use of the portal and to facilitate a smooth transition to the digital process

We encourage all stakeholders to carefully go through this manual and familiarise themselves with the processes, roles, and responsibilities outlined herein, to derive maximum benefit from this progressive digital initiative.

We seek the cooperation of all Auditors, Auditee entities and Banks (Information Providers) to support this which we believe will be of tremendous step in the contexts of greater transparency, reliability, and audit quality in the financial reporting ecosystem.

A. Overview

1. What is the Digital Balance Confirmation Portal (DBCP)?

The Digital Balance Confirmation Portal (DBCP) is a platform for entities, information providers, and auditors to request and manage balance confirmation certificates efficiently.

2. When is this being launched for use?

The DBCP is proposed to be launched on 1 July 2025, or such other date as may be decided by Indian Banks Association and PSB Alliance Private Limited

3. How will the certificate be signed

The certificate will be digitally signed on behalf of the bank

4.  How can I access this portal. What is the URL link?

The Digital Balance Confirmation Portal can be accessed through the below given link. https://digitalbalanceconfirmation.com/BCP V1/

5. Who has this been developed by and who are the key stakeholders?

The Digital Balance Confirmation Portal has been developed by PSB Alliance Pvt Ltd with National e Governance Services Limited as their technology partner.

The key stakeholders include:

• Auditees: Entities being audited (e.g., corporates, LLPs, trusts).
• Auditors: Representatives of auditing firms or regulatory bodies.
• Information Providers: Banks or entities providing balance confirmation certificates.
• Solution Providers: Developers managing the application ( NeSL)
• Administrators (PSBA): Managing daily operations of the process, billing, and reports.

6. What is the intent of this portal?

The purpose of this portal is to obtain balance confirmation certificates for entities in an efficient manner with minimum manual intervention to ensure authentic and standardised generation and retention of Bank Balance Confirmation certificates with complete visibility in respect of requests received, delivered and pending

7. Who are PSB Alliance Private Limited and NeSL

The task of developing the Digital Balance Confirmation Portal was handed to PSB Alliance Pvt Ltd. PSB Alliance is the platform owner of DBCP. PSB Alliance is an umbrella organisation of 12 Public Sector Banks primarily focussing on delivering financial and non-financial banking services. PSB Alliance is involved in many such projects for furthering the growth of the banking sector. This initiative will allow for faster, secure and more efficient retrieval of balance confirmations from banks for Auditors.

National e Governance Services Limited as their technology partner for this project and the platform has been developed by them. NeSL is India’s first Information Utility and is registered with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) under the aegis of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). The company has been set up by leading banks and public institutions. The primary role of NeSL is to serve as a repository of legal evidence holding the information pertaining to any debt/claim, as submitted by the financial or operational creditor and verified and authenticated by the parties to the debt.

B. Benefits and Other matters

8. What is the benefit to the Auditor

Auditors face multiple challenges while securing balance confirmation certificates like sending & receiving couriers to and from branches, manual data entry of balances in excel/system, maintaining the logs of courier sent and courier received and follow-up with Auditee where Balance Confirmation is not received. The present manual process may also be time consuming in terms of responses from Information Providers

All these issues are completely resolved with the digital system. Digital Balance Confirmation will be, upon relevant consent and request, securely provided by the related banks directly to the auditors without the possibility of any manual intervention by the entity and in a manner that maintains the authenticity of such information. The banks will also endeavour to define and maintain standard turnaround times for providing such confirmation statements

9. What is the benefit to the Auditee – Client

Auditee entities face multiple challenges while securing a balance confirmation certificate like preparation of branch wise / auditor wise authority letter, physical signing of authority letters by 2-3 authorized signatories. There are associated costs and consequent delays in finalization of accounts. All these issues are completely resolved with the digital portal system.

10. Can only statutory auditors use this portal or is this available for other engagements that we undertake as Chartered Accountants

The use of the portal is not limited to statutory auditors. The Digital Balance Confirmation Portal is also available to other practising Chartered Accountants for various professional engagements where external confirmations are required, such as tax audits, certifications, due diligence, and other agreed-upon procedures. This enables wider utility of the platform across different types of audit and assurance services.

11. Is there any fee leviable for such confirmation of balances. Who needs to pay for this Yes, fees will be charged on the Auditee for each balance certificate obtained. All accounts maintained with the bank will be provided in One Balance Confirmation certificate at the Bank level. Charges will be levied based on the number of accounts maintained with the bank and is discussed later in this note.

12. What controls exist to ensure that only the correct auditor can obtain the confirmation, and no unauthorised person gets the same?

The system validates the auditor’s details (MRN, FRN, entity name) with ICAI during registration. The auditee entity user will then specifically assign the auditor from the portal during which the auditor details are again validated with ICAI. This ensures that only the correct auditor can obtain the confirmation.

13. If I have resigned as auditor, will I still be able to get the balance confirmations

If an auditor is still part of same auditing firm and not deactivated as a user only then can he login and access those balance certificates which have been requested. Essentially if MRN and FRN are still mapped only then can one login and view the balance certificates. Ideally when a user is no longer in the service of the firm, then the rights would be deleted in the portal by the firm.

C. Technology Platform

14. Can the Auditors and Auditee Clients use this Technology Platform confidently

The Technology Platform has been developed and will be administered and maintained by National E Governance Services Limited (NeSL) which is India’s first Information Utility, registered with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).

The portal has been developed based on extensive consultations with various stakeholders and developed in line with well-defined functional specifications

NeSL is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified and has adequate systems and processes in relation to enabling and ensuring relevant and necessary Governance measures including

• Complete Data Confidentiality which will be always maintained and in compliance with all relevant laws and regulations

• Continuous and uninterrupted Availability of the application and information for the relevant, designated and authorised stakeholders as per agreed service levels
• Integrity of the data and processes
• Robust processes for Access Management and Change Management
• Managing of relevant interfaces and integrations including API Success monitoring
• Robust processes for data retention and back ups

D. Process Flow

15. What is the brief process flow of the portal

The brief workflow for each of the stakeholder is given below

E. Format of the certificate

16. Will each bank provide certificates in their own format

No, a standardised format has been developed for this purpose. Hence all banks need to respond in the same approved format. The format is kept in Appendix 1 to this User Guidance document.

F. Coverage

17. Which are the banks where an Auditor and auditee can use a Digital Balance Confirmation Process via this portal. Are all banks covered

Currently the following banks are live on DBCP:

• Canara Bank
• UCO Bank
• Punjab National Bank
• Bank Of Maharashtra

Other Public and Private Sector Banks to be covered and made live soon.

18. If all banks of a client are not covered in the DBCP, how does the Auditor get balance confirmations for those banks?

The auditor will have to obtain the Balance Confirmation certificate offline as per the current manual process until the bank agrees and is onboarded onto DBCP.

19. If a client refuses to support this process and refuses to register, then what can I do as the auditor

The auditor will have to obtain the Balance Confirmation certificate offline as per the current manual process which is followed. (However, the manual process may not be possible, if a particular bank decides that the confirmations can be obtained only through this portal).

The auditor may also consider conveying to their client the benefits and use case of DBCP in obtaining the authenticated Balance Confirmation certificate.

G. Registration by auditor

20. How does the portal identify me as a Chartered Accountant in practice for registration and what is my unique ID for this portal

The system validates the auditor’s details (MRN, FRN, entity name) with ICAI during registration. The unique identifier for a user on this portal is the User PAN.

21. What should I do as auditor to register

Authorized users of Auditor Entity register the auditing firm using its PAN and demographic details. Registration also requires the Firm Registration Number (FRN). The registration process will be completed only when a user is created. Auditor user requires the Member Registration Number (MRN) for registration. A firm can be registered only once by one user

22. Where can I find this on the portal

The Auditor registration section on the Digital Balance Confirmation Portal can be accessed through the below given URL. https://digitalbalanceconfirmation.com/BCP V1/

23. Whom should I approach if I have any difficulties in registration

In case of any difficulties send an email to helpdesk@digitalbalanceconfirmation.com. A ticket will be generated, and you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24 hours. Alternatively, you can call the toll-free number 1800 889 4601.

24. I have registered my firm and as a user. How do I link myself to the client

The client will have to register and identify you as the audit firm and the concerned user. This is discussed in the later segments of this note

H. Registration by client

25. What should I do as an Auditee – client of the bank to register and what is my unique ID for this portal

The authorized user of Auditee Entity registers the entity using the Entity PAN, providing details like Name of the Entity, Date of Incorporation or Date of Birth, Registered Address, Email, and Contact details of the entity. The Mobile Number and Email ID are verified through OTP. The registration process will be completed only when a user is created.

26. How does the portal identify me as a client of the bank for registration

Registration of an entity does not require identification from bank. There is a specific bank linkage process which needs to be carried out for the banks with which the entity transacts and maintains accounts. The bank linkage is discussed in the later segments of this guidance.

27. Where can I find this on the portal

The Client registration section on the Digital Balance Confirmation Portal can be accessed through the below given URL. https://digitalbalanceconfirmation.com/BCP V1/

28. Whom should I approach if I have any difficulties in registration

In case of any difficulties send an email to helpdesk@digitalbalanceconfirmation.com. A ticket will be generated, and you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24hours. Alternatively, you can call our toll-free number 1800 889 4601.

29. The entity has been registered as per the above steps, can the auditor now get the certificate

At this stage, the Auditee – Client has only registered themselves on the portal. The portal does not know who your banks are and who the auditor is. Hence the following need to be performed and are discussed in detail

a. Link the auditee to the banks which are registered on the portal with whom the auditee client maintains their accounts

b. The auditor has already registered themselves on the portal, so you need to identify the auditor. If the auditor has not registered, then you may first ask them to do so

c. Once this is completed, the auditor will place a request for confirmation

d. The auditee will need to make the necessary fee payment

e. The Bank Balance Confirmation is then available to the auditor

I. Login after registration

30. How do I as the auditee (client of the bank) login after registration

To login click on the https://digitalbalanceconfirmation.com/BCP_V1/ and click on login. Entity PAN, User PAN and Password will be required for login.

31. How do I as the auditor login after registration

To login click on the https://digitalbalanceconfirmation.com/BCP V1/ and click on login. Entity PAN, User PAN and Password will be required for login.

32.  hom should I approach if I have any difficulties in login after registration

In case of any difficulties send an email to helpdesk@digitalbalanceconfirmation.com . A ticket will be generated, and you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24hours. Alternatively, you can call our toll-free number 1800 889 4601.

J. Linking the Bank by the Auditee – Client

33. The Auditee – Client has registered. How does the auditee identify themselves to the banks where they maintain accounts?

The auditee should login and identify the banks. Only the authorised signatory as provided to the bank can perform this linkage process as the OTP’s will be sent to their mobile numbers and mail id’s. The logic here is that an auditee user can be created by any one in the organisation but the permission to generate the statement for the auditor can be provided only by the authorised signatory of the bank.

34. Where can I find this on the portal

Bank Linkage Request – OTP Process

K. Identification and Linking of the Auditor by the Auditee – Client

35. We can see from the above that the client has registered based on their banking relationship with a particular bank and auditor has registered based on their data which is linked to ICAI. But how would the system know and link which client is for which auditor?

It is the Auditee’s responsibility to assign an auditor in the auditor assignment module without which the auditor cannot raise a Balance Confirmation request.

36. Where can I find this on the portal

L. Seeking balance confirmations by Auditor

37. Who should seek the balance confirmation?

Balance Confirmation can be raised by

• Auditees: For their own consumption.
• Auditors: For audit purposes (requires assignment by the auditee).

38. How to request for balance confirmation of the client

Login on the portal as an auditor and click on BC Request Tab and click on New BC Certificate option.

42. What are the balances which will be confirmed by the bank

Digital confirmations for both asset (debt) and liability (deposit) accounts held by entities will be provided. This will include all Liability Accounts (open and closed) i.e. all Deposits and other Liabilities, all Facility Accounts (open and closed) i.e. loans and other assets, including fund-based and non-fund based facilities & all MTM /Derivatives contracts.

43. In what format the confirmations will be obtained from the bank. Is it standardised?

A standard template as agreed upon by ICAI and IBA is used for the digital balance confirmation certificate.

44. Can I do this for multiple clients at the same time

The balance confirmation is based on the PAN of the auditee entity. Separate request must be raised for different auditee entities.

45. How can I track all the confirmation requests that I have made for various banks and clients?

Users can view the audit trail of all requests raised for various banks and clients in the BC request Tab as well as in the dashboard.

46. If I am unable to generate a request, whom should I approach for resolution

In case of any difficulties send an email to helpdesk@digitalbalanceconfirmation.com . A ticket will be generated, and you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24 hours. Alternatively, you can call our toll-free number 1800 889 4601.

47. Can I obtain balance confirmation only for current period or for past periods also. If so, for how long in the past can I request for balance confirmations from the bank

Auditors can raise request for a balance certificate only for the period assigned to the auditor, whereas in case of auditee any period. Balance Confirmations can be generated from 1 April 2024 onwards.

48. Can I make multiple requests for the same period

Yes, Multiple requests are allowed.

49. Can more than one auditor make a request for the same period example in case of joint audits or in cases where one CA is the statutory auditor and another CA is doing a special engagement or certification

Yes, multiple auditors can raise a Balance Confirmation request for the same Auditee for the same period.

M. Payment by Auditee – Client

50. How much should the client pay for obtaining confirmations?

The fee will be calculated basis the number of accounts. The client will be charged fees by comprising of the following. The invoice will be issued to the client by PSBA.

a. Fee charged by the bank based on internal decision

b. Convenience fee (4.9/-)

c. Fees charged by PSBA as per below table plus the bank’s charges.

No. of Accounts of the Client (as per the PAN of the Client)	PSBA Charges (Excludes GST)
1-25	Rs. 40.00 per account per bank
26 -100	Rs. 25.00 per account per bank
Above 100	Rs. 2500 Flat per certificate

51. If a client refuses to pay, what will happen?

The system will retain the pending status of the request made by the Auditor until payment is successfully completed.

52. How should the client pay?

When a request is raised for generating Balance confirmation, the auditee is notified via email that a request has been raised. User to then login on the portal. Click on BC request tab>click on Consent & Pay. After giving the consent user will be redirected to payment gateway where the client can make the payment.

53. In case of any payment failure, whom should the client contact and how?

Take a screenshot of the payment failure message and send an email to helpdesk@digitalbalanceconfirmation.com . A ticket will be generated, and you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24 hours. Alternatively, the user can call our toll free number 1800 889 4601.

N. Turnaround times for obtaining Certificates54.

54. How soon can I expect the balance confirmation?

Post successful payment by the auditee the portal will send a request to the information provider for certificate generation. The certificate will be available for download once the bank sends the certificate. The turnaround time post payment will depend on the data load and the turnaround times as committed by the banks.

55. Whom should I approach if the process is delayed?

In case of any difficulties send an email to helpdesk@digitalbalanceconfirmation.com . A ticket will be generated, and you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24hours. Alternatively, you can call our toll free number 1800 889 4601.

56. How will I be able to track what are the requests which are pending?

Users can view the audit trail of all requests raised for various banks and clients in the BC request Tab as well as in the dashboard.

O. Receipt of Balance Confirmation from Banks

57. How will I know that the request for confirmation has been received. Will I get a mail? When the auditor raises a request to generate balance confirmation certificates, the auditee user will receive an email indicating the same. Auditee user can login on the portal and view the request.

58. If the balance confirmation is not downloadable, whom should they contact and how? In case of any difficulties send an email to helpdesk@digitalbalanceconfirmation.com . A ticket will be generated, and you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24hours. Alternatively, you can call our toll-free number 1800 889 4601.

P. Queries on Balance Confirmation Received

59. If the confirmation received does not reflect all the accounts, components as per client books of accounts and records, whom should I contact for resolution

The auditor will be required to contact the relevant bank branch for any queries

60. If the confirmation received contains more accounts or components than the client books of accounts and records, whom should I contact for resolution

The auditor will be required to contact the relevant bank branch for any queries.

Q. Regeneration of Bank Confirmation statements

61. If the confirmation received is inaccurate and the bank agrees to the same, can I regenerate the statement with accurate data. How should I document the same in my working papers

Once the bank confirms that the necessary corrections are done, the bank needs to push the certificate onto the portal.

62. Should the client pay once again

No, the client need not pay for re-generation of the certificate in the event of any errors or omissions

R. Retention of Confirmation statements

63. Once I receive the confirmation as the auditor, how should I retain the same.

The confirmation certificate, once generated, will remain available on the portal for a period of 8+1 years. However, auditors may download and securely store the certificate on their local system or any other secure storage medium, as part of their audit documentation. The confirmation certificate should be retained as part of the audit documentation in accordance with the requirements of Standard on Auditing (SA) 230, “Audit Documentation”.

Additionally, Standard on Quality Control (SQC) 1 requires audit firms to establish policies and procedures for the retention of engagement documentation. The retention period for audit engagements should ordinarily be no shorter than seven years from the date of the auditor’s report or, or, if later, the date of the group auditor’s report.

64. Will the Confirmation Certificate be available on the portal and if so for how long The certificate will always be available for multiple downloads in the login. The certificate is stored for a period of current year plus 8 years and can be verified at any given time during this period.

65. If I do not use the portal for a certain period, will my login be disabled. How should I restore this login

No, currently no login is disabled for inactivity for a long period.

S. Alterations to certificates

66. What if someone alters the certificate

The technology used in the portal keeps the certificate sacrosanct. So, certificate once generated cannot be tampered with and is unalterable. The balance certificates are digitally signed by the bank and tampering with a digitally signed document will invalidate the signature.

67. How to I check if a certificate has been tampered with

In case user wants to check whether the certificate is tampered with, the system all’s user to upload the certificate and validate the same.

If the certificate is valid the flowing message will be displayed

If the certificate is tampered with then the following message will be displayed

T. Complaints and Grievances

68. Is there a ticket system where we can raise our issues?

In case of any difficulties send an email to helpdesk@digitalbalanceconfirmation.com . A ticket will be generated, and you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24hours. Alternatively, you can call our toll free number 1800 889 4601.

69. How long will queries take to resolve?

Once a ticket is generated, you will receive response from our helpdesk team within 24hours.

70. Who will resolve the queries?

A dedicated helpdesk team and tech support team will be available to resolve the queries.