The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the regulator for the audit profession in the country which also sets the curriculum for CAs, conducts the examination and grants certification, is itself unwilling to share information about its members and the quality of services they provide with the Quality Review Board set up in 2007 to scrutinise audit firms’ performance.

The QRB was set up two years ago to fix standards for the services provided by ICAI members, review the quality of such services including audit and guide members to improve the quality of services and ensure their adherence to the various statutory and other regulatory requirements. But the ICAI has held on to its turf and extended little cooperation to the QRB, according to the board’s chairman.

Chairman of the Quality Review Board KD Gupta said besides three meetings, the ICAI had done little to facilitate the functioning of the board which was a result of the recommendations of the government-appointed Naresh Chandra committee. In the last meeting on August 31, the board had decided that statistics should be collated on the number of companies being audited by the Big Four audit firms and 10 other large Indian audit firms.

“But so far no progress has been made. The statistics have not been provided to us. We cannot proceed further without the facts. Meetings alone won’t help. There is no follow-up on the decisions taken. We seriously need that,” Gupta told The Indian Express. ICAI, however, said the grievances have been addressed long ago and no issues are pending. “Yes, there were issues but they have been addressed eight months back. There is no difference of opinion between ICAI and the QRB. If the statistics have not been provided yet, it must be some administrative glitch and not lack of will,” an ICAI representative on the board said.

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