Please
refer to BPRD Circular No.25 dated the 10th October,
1995 under cover of which a panel of auditors maintained under
Section 35 of the BCO, 1962 was circulated and subsequent
changes/amendments were carried out in the panel from time
to time. The panel of auditors has been reconstituted under
the revised criteria for placement of firms on the SBP’s Panel
of Auditors (Annexure-A).
2)
The panel shall remain operative as under:-
a)
Banks/NBFIs having total assets (net of contra items)
above Rs.50 billion or having 100 or more branches may engage
any of the auditors placed in Category ‘A’.
b)
Banks/NBFIs having total assets (net of contra items)
of Rs.5 billion to Rs.50 billion or number of branches from
10 to 99 may engage any of the auditors placed in Categories
A or B.
c)
Banks/NBFIs having total assets (net of contra items)
below Rs.5 billion or number of branches below 10 may engage
any of the auditors placed in either of the Categories A,
B or C.
3)
Other instructions on the subject are as under:-
a)
The audit firms, which attain the minimum eligibility
criteria thresholds, are eligible to audit Banks/NBFIs in
the specific category.
b)
An audit firm of a higher category can also conduct
audit of a lower category bank/NBFI.
c)
The panel will be reviewed once in every two years.
d)
During this period, the State Bank may also downgrade
the category of any firm or remove it from the panel in the
following cases:-
i)
If material misstatement of facts and figures is observed
in the statements or reports supplied to the State Bank duly
certified by the auditing
firm, which will materially alter the assessment of financial
position of banks/NBFIs in an adverse manner.
ii)
Failure of the auditing firm in securing a “Satisfactory”
Annual Audit Compliance Report (ACR) from ICAP. In order to
ensure compliance with this requirement, the auditing firm
will be required to invariably submit a copy of their ACR
to the State Bank every year, failing which their category
may be downgraded by the State Bank.
e)
Banks/NBFIs shall appoint auditors from the revised
panel for the accounting year ending 31st December
2001 and onwards.
These instructions
supercede all earlier directives issued from time to time
on the subject.
|