The Council of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India ( ICSI ) has approved the issuance of four ICSI Auditing Standards and the same were released on May 6, 2019, at the ICSI House, New Delhi. The Standards are required to be observed by the Company Secretaries undertaking Audits. The Standards seek to promote best auditing practices, uniformity and consistency while conducting audits. The four Standards namely CSAS-1: Auditing Standard on Audit Engagement; CSAS-2: Auditing Standard on Audit Process and Documentation; CSAS-3: Auditing Standard on Forming of Opinion and CSAS-4: Auditing Standard on Secretarial Audit is applicable on recommendatory basis on Audit engagements accepted by the Auditor on or after 1st July 2019; and mandatory for Audit engagements accepted by the Auditor on or after 1st April, 2020: CSAS-1 lays down the Auditorās role and responsibilities with respect to an Audit Engagement and the process of entering into an understanding/agreement with the Appointing Authority for the purpose of audit.
CSAS-2 lays down the responsibilities and duties of the Auditor with respect to Audit Process in conducting an audit and maintaining proper audit records. CSAS-3 covers the basis and manner for forming Auditorās opinion on the subject matter of the audit while CSAS-4 covers the basis and manner for carrying out the Secretarial Audit. CS Ranjeet Pandey, President, ICSI, CS Vineet K. Chaudhary, Chairman, ASB & Council Member, ICSI and CS Manish Gupta, Vice-Chairman, ASB & Council Member, ICSI and CS Ashok Kumar Dixit, Officiating Secretary, ICSI were present at the release of the Auditing Standards. While speaking about the issuance of Auditing Standards, CS Ranjeet Pandey said, āI am confident that these standards issued by ICSI will guide our Members and further strengthen our Audit Processā.
CS Vineet K. Chaudhary congratulated the entire team of ICSI for this achievement. He said that the Institute shall be conducting familiarization programs for the members to make them understand the true spirit of the Auditing Standards issued by the ICSI.
