ICAI issues guidelines for conducting of distance/ remote/ online Peer Review
According to the announcement made in this regard, the ICAI has decided in favour of distance/remote/online Peer Review due to two years of covid-19 pandemic and the changed audit methodologies adopted for conducting audits.
ICAI has stated that in the remote mode, there will be no change in the peer review process as compared to the physical mode. The primary responsibility of the Reviewers is to ensure that appropriate audit evidence is available with them based on which they are able to express their opinion. The reviewer must ensure compliance with the regulatory norms including compliance with Standards on Auditing and there is no dilution (in any form) of Standards on Auditing and / or any other mandatory guidelines issued by ICAI.
The ICAI has issued the following important guidelines for distant/remote/online Peer review:
(i) The Practice unit and the Reviewers can opt for all communications by email instead of physical mode. The reviewer and the Practice Unit may consider to chronologically/ date wise arrange such communications for better controls.
(ii) On receipt of Questionnaire from the Practice Unit (PU), the Reviewer can intimate the list of samples selected by him to the PU through e-mail in place of courier/post. The Practice Unit can arrange to provide the data/ documents required for the purpose of conducting review in soft copy format at the mutual convenience of the PU and the reviewer. The reviewer can also request for remote access to the Practice Unit’s platform for maintaining/ documenting the audit working papers. The reviewer can run through the mechanisms/ procedure through electronic mode to collect adequate audit evidence to form an opinion.
(iii) The fact that the Peer Review was conducted through virtual mode should be mentioned in the Report submitted to the Board in the space provided for mentioning the dates of physical visit.
It has been clarified that the Peer Review through remote mode shall be conducted only by the Peer Reviewer and/or one qualified Assistant who may assist the Peer Reviewer in conducting the Review.
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