Accounting regulator Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on Sunday said that all listed companies will be audited by only peer review certified companies from April 1 this year with 1,240 firms being selected for the review.
Peer review is the evaluation of work or performance by others in the same field in order to maintain the quality of the performance.
This means all the auditors of listed companies will have to undergo peer review process and get peer review certificate issued from the peer review board.
ICAI also said the financial statements of companies coming out with initial public offerings (IPOs) need to be certified by firms, which have been issued a certificate from the peer review board.
“From accounting periods commencing on or after April 1, 2009, all listed companies will be audited by only those firms, that have been issued peer review certificate by the peer review board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), a release by the apex body said.
After the multi-crore Satyam scam came to light, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had announced a peer review of the Sensex and Nifty firms.
Around 4,000 firms have already been peer reviewed. “Further 1,240 firms have been selected for peer review and the process have been initiated. The review of these firms will be completed on fast track,” ICAI president Uttam Prakash Aggarwal said, adding that more than 6,000 peer reviewers are there in the country.
The institute in its council’s meeting in the past two days also approved the framework for corporate affairs standards, which will ensure a fair, transparent and accountable corporate regime in the country, the release said.