ICAI to Take Strict Action Against CAs Violating New Tax Audit Limit

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) had issued a notification on Tuesday, capping the number of minimum tax audits undertaken by each partner in an accounting firm. As per the notification, an individual member in an accounting firm cannot sign more than 60 audit reports in a financial year starting from April 1, 2026.

This move aims to enhance the quality of tax audit and ensure fair audit distribution among partners. Under the current guidelines, a partnership firm is allowed to conduct audits up to the combined limit of all its partners. Some senior partners often use the limit of their junior partners when they run out of their tax audit limit. With the new guidelines, the individual partner in a CA firm cannot use the audit limit of other partners.

The ICAI president, Charanjot Singh Nanda, has warned that ICAI will take strict action against CAs who violate these new audit guidelines that are applicable from April 1, 2025. “These guidelines are mandatory, not advisory. We won’t hesitate to take disciplinary action against violators,” He said at a press conference on Wednesday.