FAQ's

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is a body constituted under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 to regulate the profession of Chartered Accountants in India. The Institute, since its constitution in 1949, has made sincere efforts to improve the financial reporting practices prevailing in the Country. Continuing with its commitment to serve the nation, the Council of the Institute has constituted the Financial Reporting Review Board. The objective of the Board is to review the compliance, inter alia, with the accounting and auditing standards. It is envisaged that the reviews carried out by the Board, in the long-run would improve the overall quality of works executed by the members of the profession. The Board, however, restricts its reviews to the published general-purpose financial statements only. It is also clarified here that the reviews by the Financial Reporting Review Board would not be verification of the entire audit (re-audit) or review of working papers of the auditors concerned.

The FRRB reviews the general-purpose financial statements of certain enterprises with a view to determine, to the extent possible:

• Compliance with the generally accepted accounting principles in the preparation and presentation of financial statements;
• Compliance with the disclosure requirements prescribed by regulatory bodies, statutes and rules and regulations relevant to the enterprise; and
• Compliance with the reporting obligations of the enterprise as well as the auditor.

The FRRB reviews the general-purpose financial statements either suo motto or on a reference made to it by any regulatory body like, Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Election Commission of India etc. The FRRB also reviews the general-purpose financial statements of enterprises relating to which serious accounting irregularities in the general-purpose financial statements have been highlighted by the media reports.

In case the FRRB finds any material / serious non-compliance in respect of the factors stated at paragraph 2 of Terms of Reference, it would refer the case to the Director (Discipline) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for initiating action against the auditor under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. Insofar as the management of the enterprise is concerned, the FRRB would inform irregularity to the regulatory body relevant to the enterprise.

The enterprises within the purview of the FRRB include:

• Entities whose equity or debt securities are listed or are in the process of listing on any stock exchange, whether in India or outside India..
• Banks (including co-operative banks), financial institutions or entities carrying on insurance business.
• All commercial, industrial and business reporting entities, whose ‘net worth’ exceeds rupees two hundred & fifty crore in the immediately preceding accounting year. (the term ‘net worth’ would carry same meaning as defined u/s 2(57) of the Companies Act, 2013)
• Holding and subsidiary entities of any one of the above.
• Such other enterprise or category of enterprises, for which any information relating to non-compliance of generally accepted accounting principles in the preparation and presentation of financial statements, non-compliance of the disclosure requirements prescribed by regulatory bodies, statutes and rules and regulations relevant to the enterprise and non-compliance of the reporting obligations of the enterprise and the auditor brought to its notice, which in the opinion of the Board may be undertaken for public interest, including the enterprises mentioned in paragraph 3 of Terms of Reference.

There could be accounting and auditing issues that may require a clarification. The FRRB does not have any power to issue such clarifications. However, if the FRRB is of the opinion that the issue requires a clarification, it may refer the issue to the appropriate committee of the Council for consideration.