Government of India has, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 28A of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, constituted a Quality Review Board (the ‘Board’) to perform the following functions under Section 28B of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949:-

a) to make recommendations to the Council with regard to the quality of services provided by the members of the Institute;
b) to review the quality of services provided by the members of the Institute including audit services; and
c) to guide the members of the Institute to improve the quality of services and adherence to the various statutory and other regulatory requirements.
d) to forward cases of non-compliance with various statutory and regulatory requirements by the members of the Institute or firms, noticed by it during the course of its reviews, to the Disciplinary Directorate for its examination.

However, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, vide letter F.No.7/1/2019-CL-1 dated 30th January, 2019, has clarified to the Quality Review Board that in view of Sec.132 (2) of the Companies Act, 2013 r/w Rule 9(4) of NFRA Rules, 2018, the issue of QRB reviewing audits of the companies/bodies corporate specified under Rule 3 of the NFRA Rules, 2018 will only arise in case a reference is so made to QRB by NFRA, and not otherwise.

Rule 3 (1) of National Financial Reporting Authority Rules, 2018, as notified by Central Government on 13 November, 2018, inter alia, provides that the Authority (read NFRA) shall have power to monitor and enforce compliance with accounting standards and auditing standards, oversee the quality of service under sub-section (2) of section 132 or undertake investigation under sub-section (4) of such section of the auditors of the following class of companies and bodies corporate, namely:-

(a) companies whose securities are listed on any stock exchange in India or outside India;
(b) 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;
(c) insurance companies, banking companies, companies engaged in the generation or supply of electricity, companies governed by any special Act for the time being in force or bodies corporate incorporated by an Act in accordance with clauses (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of sub-section (4) of section 1 of the Act;
(d) any body corporate or company or person, or any class of bodies corporate or companies or persons, on a reference made to the Authority by the Central Government in public interest; and
(e) a body corporate incorporated or registered outside India, which is a subsidiary or associate company of any company or body corporate incorporated or registered in India as referred to in clauses (a) to (d), if the income or networth of such subsidiary or associate company exceeds twenty percent of the consolidated income or consolidated networth of such company or the body corporate, as the case may be, referred to in clauses (a) to (d).

Rule 9(4) of NFRA Rules, 2018 provides that the Authority (read NFRA) may refer cases with regard to overseeing the quality of service of auditors of companies or bodies corporate referred to in rule 3 to the Quality Review Board constituted under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949) or call for any report or information in respect of such auditors or companies or bodies corporate from such Board as it may deem appropriate.

Accordingly, QRB would now be able to initiate reviews of quality of audit services provided by members of the Institute only in respect of entities other than those specified under Rule 3(1) of NFRA Rules, 2018, namely, private limited companies, unlisted public companies below the thresholds specified under Rule 3(1) of NFRA Rules, 2018 and other entities not specified under Rule 3(1) of NFRA Rules, 2018; and those referred to QRB by NFRA under Rule 9(4) of NFRA Rules, 2018. However, in the meanwhile, QRB has also been completing its on-going reviews of top listed and other public interest entities which were in process.

In exercise of the powers conferred by clauses (f) and (g) of Sub-section (2) of Section 29A of, read with Section 28C and Sub-section (1) of Section 28D of, the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, Government of India has also issued ‘Chartered Accountants (Procedures of Meetings of Quality Review Board, and Terms and Conditions of Service and Allowances of the Chairperson and Members of the Board) Rules, 2006’. In terms of its Rule 6, in the discharge of its functions, the Board may, inter alia, evaluate and review the quality of work and services provided by the members of the Institute in such manner as it may decide and also lay down the procedure of evaluation criteria to evaluate various services being provided by the members of the Institute and to select, in such manner and form as it may decide, the individuals and firms rendering such services for review.

In terms of the aforesaid Rule 6, the Quality Review Board has issued the ‘Procedure for Quality Review of Audit Services of Audit Firms’ (the ‘Procedure’). As per the aforesaid Procedure, Quality Review is directed towards inspection/evaluation of audit quality and adherence to various statutory and other regulatory requirements. It would involve inspection and assessment of the work of auditors while carrying out their audit function so that the Board is able to assess (a) the quality of audit and reporting by the auditors; and (b) the quality control framework adopted by the auditors/ audit firms in conducting audit.

In accordance with this Procedure, the Board has initiated a system of review of statutory audit services of the audit firms in India pursuant to a process comprising selection of the audit firms for review and engagement of Technical Reviewers.

Year wise details of Quality Review Assignments initiated by the Quality Review Board

Reporting Formats prescribed by the Quality Review Board for the Technical Reviewers

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