ICAI further deferred Second Phase of Peer Review Mandate covering Firms Auditing unlisted public companies

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has notified further Deferment of second phase of Peer Review Mandate.

The Council at its 407th Meeting held from 7th – 9th January 2022 decided to mandate the Peer Review process for coverage of more firms under Peer Review process. An Announcement dated 12.02.2022 in this regard was hosted on the website at ICAI.

Further clarifications on the mandate were issued by the Council at its 410th Meeting held on 24th – 25th March 2022. An Announcement dated 11.04.2022 in this regard was hosted on the website at ICAI.

Considering that some Practice Units which require to get themselves Peer Reviewed under the 2nd phase of the Peer Review mandate were not ready for the same, the Council at its 420th Meeting held on 23rd – 24th March, 2023 decided to defer the applicability of the second phase of the mandate by three months to be made effective from July 1, 2023.

However, requests were received from Practise Units claiming that they were unaware of the Peer Review obligation and hence needed more time to get Peer Reviewed. Taking this into account, the Council resolved at its 422nd Meeting on 30th June – 1st July 2023 to postpone the implementation of the 2nd part of the Peer Review mandate.

Accordingly, the second phase of the mandate is now applicable w.e.f April 1, 2024 for the following Practice Units:

Practise Units proposing to undertake Statutory Audit of unlisted public companies with paid-up capital of not less than rupees five hundred crores, annual turnover of not less than rupees one thousand crores, or outstanding loans, debentures and deposits of not less than rupees five hundred crores as on the 31st March of the immediately preceding financial year: These Practise Units must have Peer Review Certificate.

OR

Practise Units providing attestation services with five or more partners: Before accepting any Statutory audit for these Practise Units, a Peer Review Certificate is required.

Accordingly Practice Units which accept Statutory audits on or before March 31, 2024 should ensure that they have a Peer Review Certificate at the time of signing.

The Council also decided that the applicability of the mandate shall under no circumstances be further deferred and the Practice Units shall ensure strict compliance of the same.