ICAB goes tough on errant auditors

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Mohammad Ali | Published: February 08, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

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Auditors' grouping has taken punitive action against four accountancy firms and 14 students after it found them guilty of professional "misconduct," officials said.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has fined two firms while scrapped licenses of the students in an action.
The action comes after the central bank and ICAB's quality wing have lodged complaints against the firms and students.
Last year, the ICAB suspended audit licences of seven chartered accountants and audit firms and took disciplinary actions against nine other accountants of six audit firms.
The four audit firms include Ahmed Shahid & Co., MM Hossain & Co., A Hoque & Co., and Rahman Mustafiz Haq & Co.
All the four firms were 'reprimanded' while Ahmed & Shahid and MM Hossain were additionally fined at Tk 100,000 and 50,000 respectively.
The actions followed the Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (IDC)'s probe reports that were conducted in line with the allegations, lodged by the Bangladesh Bank and the institute's Quality Assurance Board (QAB).
Among the allegations brought against MM Hossain & Co. were absence of comparative figures and cash flow statement in the audited financial statements, submission of financial statement without signature of company's management, non-disclosure of significant accounting policies in the audited financial statements.
The allegations against A Hoque & Co. and Rahman Mustafiz Haq & Co. include non-maintenance of minimum requirement on payment to student allowance, violation of ICAB bye-law and unsatisfactory level of compliance status of BSQC1.
The practicing member of Ahmed Shahid & Co. was found to be engaged in audit without obtaining the certificate of practice for the last two years, according to the probe report.
The two firms representing the punished 14 students are Md Mijanur Rahman Bhuiyan FCA and Md Mujibar Rahman FCA.
The students, whose registration were cancelled, are Ranjit Das, Ariful Alam, Md Jahirul Islam, Mahmud Hasan, Md Abdul Khaleq, Chotan Paul, Shamim Uddin, Ashraful Alam, Ananta Kumar Sarkar, S.K. Abu Nasir Hera, Serazul Islam, Mohammad Selim, Kamolesh Chandra Mandal and Md Mamunur Rashid.
ICAB president Masih Malik Chowdhury said that the delay in disclosing the disciplinary actions occurred due to the transition of leadership at the grouping.
The guilty persons were also officially informed about the punitive decisions before disclosure of the information and some other procedures were maintained to avoid any legal hazards, said Mr Chowdhury, who  took charge last month.
"In the future, we'll be in a position to make public the actions much earlier," he added.
The ICAB has started officially disclosing such punitive measures against its member firms and individuals esince in 2013.
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