ICAB to take actions against CAs

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has started actions against about a dozen Chartered Accountants (CAs) and CA firms for their professional misconducts, sources at the institute said.

The ICAB Council initiated the move in line with recommendations of the Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (IDC) that found them guilty and suggested to take various types of punishment.

"A meeting of the ICAB Council is set to be held on July 24 to take final decision about what type of punishments will be taken against them," ICAB president Showkat Hossain FCA told the FE.

Probing into, among others, the complaints placed by Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and the mismatches found in ICAB team's regular visits to the CA firms, the IDC found them guilty of mainly compromising quality and standard in audit, Md Saiful Islam, IDC member secretary, said.

Based on the investigation, the IDC submitted its recommendations before the Council for different punitive measures such as financial penalty, reprimand and/or both of them and suspension of membership, Mr Islam said.

"The ICAB Council is authorised to take final decision about imposition of the punishments," added Mr Islam.

Previously, the ICAB would not disclose information of such punitive measures outside, rather mainly informed the complainants and punished CAs or CA firms. Last year, it formally decided to make such information public by publishing in its monthly bulletin for the sake of transparency and transparency, officials said.

As the bulletin is published after each month and accordingly the information became old when it is printed on bulletin. In this connection, when his attention was drawn to it, Mr Showkat Hossain assured that the ICAB will now upload the punitive actions in its website immediately after finalisation of such decisions.

Earlier in late last year, the ICAB officially reprimanded 20 CAs as they were found guilty of professional misconduct.