Foreign branches of PSUs should also be audited: ICAI

In order to make books of accounts of public sector entities more transparent, accounting regulator ICAI on Thursday said their foreign branches also should be audited by the CAG. "Foreign branches of the public sector undertakings are not audited... this is one issue which needs to be looked into by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India," ICAI President Uttam Prakash Agarwal said here at a workshop for statutory auditors of public sector undertakings (PSUs). Agarwal said the CAG should also look at increasing the level of disclosure by PSUs in the wake of the Satyam incident. Apart from disclosure and compliance with auditing standards, Agarwal said auditing and accounting practices need to be strengthened in state-run entities to avoid a Satyam-like scam.