M/S Ahmad & Akthar, the auditor of the much-talked-about Coppertech Industries, has lost the licence of its primary regulator ICAB to act as a chartered accountancy (CA) firm.
The council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) rejected on Thursday the plea of the audit firm to renew its licence for doing the job.
The decision came following the firm's non-cooperation in reviewing the accounting standards maintained in the financial statement of the Coppertech Industries.
"M/S Ahmad & Akthar has lost its legality of providing any kind of service for listed and non-listed companies," ICAB President A F Nesaruddin said.
He said it is the first incident of rejecting the renewal of CA firm's practising licence.
"It's also the first case of non-cooperation of a CA firm following the repeated instructions made by its primary regulator IACB," Mr. Nesaruddin said.
M/S Ahmad & Akthar audited the financial statement of the Coppertech Industries, which is yet to get listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) due to some alleged 'inconsistencies' in the statement.
Following criticisms, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) recently sought a report from the ICAB regarding the accounting standards maintained by the audit firm in the financial statement of the Coppertech Industries.
Following the FRC's letter, the ICAB recently asked the M/S Ahmad & Akthar to submit relevant documents relating to its audit job.
"M/S Ahmad & Akthar has avoided our instruction four times. In such a situation, the council of the ICAB has decided not to renew the firm's practising licence," said the president of the ICAB.
Meanwhile, the securities regulator BSEC imposed restrictions on the firm's all services, including auditing, provided to listed companies as it turned into a proprietorship firm.
M/S Ahmad & Akthar now is not a partnership firm as one of its partner retired recently. As per existing rules, a CA firm, which has no partnership, is not eligible to audit the financial statement of any listed company.
On December 26, 2018, the securities regulator approved the IPO (initial public offering) proposal of Coppertech Industries for raising Tk 200 million in capital under the fixed-price method.
The company, however, got the listing of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE).
The DSE is awaiting the report of the FRC and a regulatory guideline to take decision regarding the listing of the Coppertech Industries.
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