Scrutiny of Statutory Reports of Corporate Houses
The Government has said that in the light of the developments in the matter of Satyam, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated a process of peer review of the working papers (relating to financial statements of listed companies) of auditors, in respect of companies constituting the NSE-Nifty 50, the BSE Sensex and some listed companies outside the Sensex and Nifty chosen on random basis, in relation to the last quarterly results and the last audited annual financial results of these companies.
The objective of peer review is to ensure that there is no material misstatement of assets and liabilities, compliance with the Accounting Standards has been made and to examine the existence of fraud or other material error in the financial statements.
Giving this information in the Rajya Sabha today in a written reply Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister for Corporate Affairs, said that the Government has powers of inspection of the books of accounts of companies and also to investigate their affairs, under the Companies Act, 1956; cases relating to listed companies are taken on priority. The Government has set up an electronic registry with round the clock access through internet. The audited accounts are also displayed on the electronic registry for general viewing. The Registrars of Companies also undertake scrutiny of the statutory reports filed by such companies to see any violation/irregularities committed by the companies.
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