RBI has barred Haribhakti & Co. LLP from auditing regulated firms

With effect from April 1, 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restricted chartered accounting firm Haribhakti & Co from conducting any sort of audit assignment in any of the businesses regulated by RBI for a period of two years.

“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated September 23, 2021, debarred M/s Haribhakti & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants (ICAI Firm Registration No. 103523W / W100048) from undertaking any type of audit assignment/s in any of the entities regulated by RBI for a period of two years with effect from April 1, 2022,” the RBI said in a statement.

According to the RBI, this action was taken because the audit firm failed to follow a specific order provided by the RBI regarding its statutory audit of a Systemically Important Non-Banking Financial Company.

The audit assignment/s of M/s Haribhakti & Co. LLP in RBI https://studycafe.in/tag/rbi/ regulated entities for the financial year 2021-22 will not be affected by this order, according to the RBI. This is the first debarment imposed under the RBI Act’s clause.

If an auditor fails to comply with any directive or order issued by the Bank under the Act, the banking regulator can take action against them under Section 45 MAA of the RBI Act.

If the charges are proven, the RBI has the authority to dismiss or restrict the auditor from performing auditing services for any of the Bank regulated entities for a maximum of three years at a time.