Revision in Phase wise implementation of ICAI Peer Review Mandate

Revision in Phase wise implementation of ICAI Peer Review Mandate – Announcement 

ICAI had decided to mandate the Peer Review process for coverage of more firms under Peer Review process. An Announcement in this regard can be read at https://www.icai.org/post/peer-review-mandate-roll-out

Later, it was clarified that holding a valid Peer Review certificate by Practice Units (referred to as ‘firms’ in the Announcement dated 12.02.2022) should be a pre requisite for undertaking audit of all entities falling under phase I; II; III and IV of the mandate.

Phase- I

ICAI has emphasized that the first phase to be implemented from 1st April 2022 for Practice Units there is a pre-requisite of having Peer Review Certificate for undertaking audit of Statutory Audit of enterprises whose equity or debt securities are listed in India or abroad as defined under SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. Practice Units falling under this phase were required to submit a declaration form hosted at https://forms.office.com/r/AA5Zpgdsrr by March 31, 2022.

Phase II

Phase II to be implemented from 1st April 2023 for Practice Units there is a pre-requisite of having Peer Review Certificate for undertaking Statutory Audit of unlisted public companies having paid-up capital of not less than rupees five hundred crores or having annual turnover of not less than rupees one thousand crores or having, in aggregate, outstanding loans, debentures and deposits of not less than rupees five hundred crores as on the 31st March of immediately preceding financial year. For Practice Units rendering attestation services and having 5 or more partners there is a requirement of having Peer Review Certificate before undertaking any Statutory Audit.

Phase III

Phase III to be implemented from 1st April 2024 for Practice Units there is a pre-requisite of having Peer Review Certificate for undertaking the Statutory Audit of entities which have raised funds from public or banks or financial institutions of over Fifty Crores rupees during the period under review or of any body corporate including trusts which are covered under public interest entities. For Practice Units rendering attestation services and having 4 or more partners there is a requirement of having Peer Review Certificate before undertaking any Statutory Audit.

Phase IV

Phase IV to be implemented from 1st April 2025 for Practice Units there is a pre-requisite of having Peer Review Certificate for undertaking audits of branches of Public Sector banks. For Practice Units rendering attestation services and having 3 or more partners there is a requirement of having Peer Review Certificate before undertaking any Statutory Audit.

It has been clarified that in respect of Peer Reviewer of auditors/Practice Units auditing listed entities, a reviewer who has carried out audit of listed entity and also one who has undergone training and test for this purpose in addition to normal training and test, is also qualified to conduct peer review.

ICAI shall shortly issue Guidelines for issuance of Peer Review Certificate to newly established firms (i.e. firms in existence for less than 12 months).

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