Bank Branch Audit of Public Sector Banks for the year 2019-20
In these tough times of the global spread of pandemic COVID-19, challenges are being faced by one and all. Limited physical movement, restricted access to information and constraints of resources have impacted all the economic processes pervasively.
In respect of the bank branch audit of the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) for the year 2019-20, series of concerted efforts have been made by Professional Development Committee of ICAI. The representations and the advisories issued by the Institute on the subject matter are tabulated chronologically for the reference of members at large:
| S.No. | Date | Matter in Brief | Details |
| 1. | 20th March, 2020 | RBI and various Regulators approached for relaxing timelines of statutory filings of Audit and other compliances due to on-going spurt of Covid-19. | Detailed Representation |
| 2. | 7th April, 2020 | RBI informed that all listed banks should follow the instructions issued by SEBI. With respect to LFAR and all certificates can be submitted by 31st July 2020. |
Announcement enclosed |
| 3. | 9th April, 2020 | Interactive meet with Central Statutory Auditors of all 85 firms with President & Vice President, ICAI, Chairman & Vice Chairman, PDC | Note on effectiveness of Bank Branch Audit enclosed |
| 4. | 13th April, 2020 | Advisory issued to approximately 35,000 firms eligible for Bank Branch Audit for initiating the process of Statutory Bank Branch audit remotely to ensure timely and effective Bank Branch Audit. The said advisory was also shared with all Central Statutory Auditors for their information. | The detailed advisory enclosed & annexure |
| 5. | 14th April, 2020 | Representations sent to RBI to re-look guidelines for NPA and COVID-19, in view of rigorous audit to be carried out. | Copy of representation is enclosed. |
| 6. | 15th April, 2020 | Letter sent to CMD’s of all Banks informing them the above advisory issued to Statutory Bank Branch Auditors. The CMDs were requested to issue an appointment letter to the Branch Auditors, if not issued. | Copy enclosed |
| 7. | 16th April, 2020 | Representation submitted again to RBI reiterating them not to reduce the number of branches and scope of Bank Branch Audit. | Copy enclosed |
ICAI will be conducting couple of webinars to discuss and resolve the various challenges which the statutory auditors are likely to face and the practical resolutions thereto for online work of bank branch audit.
Further, similar to earlier years, an expert panel has been formulated by AASB of ICAI to address the queries related to statutory bank audit raised by the members, which will be announced shortly.
The members are requested to refer the Institute’s website for all the authenticated information regarding the afore-mentioned matters and also follow the advisories.
Professional Development Committee
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