India to become first country to make non-financial audit mandatory for companies
PrintListen to this Article
The step is part of government's effort to improve governance and transparency in Indian companies to provide comfort to foreign investors.
"The audit which is a part of secretarial standards will ensure more transparency in boardrooms. This will increase the confidence of investors who want to invest in private limited companies," Atul Hasmukhrai Mehta, president, Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) had told ET earlier.
For non-compliance of audit, government has introduced penal provisions including fine between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh.
"There are around 230 sections in Companies Act which require compliance and the audit will ensure that the act is being followed by companies in letter and spirit," said Sachin Paranjape, Senior Director in Governance, Risk and Regulatory practice of Deloitte.
The secretarial standards recently issued by ICSI, effective from July 1, also make it mandatory for companies to send a notice for a board meeting seven days in advance and that there will be no last minute changes to agenda of board meetings. Standards require holding a meeting in every quarter.
However, experts say that these standards will take away the flexibility from companies to devise their own process and methods to do board and general meetings within the purview of the Companies Act, 2013. (Economic Times)
Category : ICSI | Comments : 0 | Hits : 1705
ICSI Council has allowed Company Secretaries in Practice to be registered and act as Trade Marks Agent / IPR Agent. In this regard, the Council of the Institute pursuant to the powers conferred under Clause (0 of Sub-Section (2) of Section 2 of the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 read with Regulation 168 of the Company Secretaries Regulations, 1982 has allowed ‘Company Secretaries in Practice to act as IPR agent’ [Ref: Item II (I) of the Resolution as mentioned below]. The aforesaid...
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India appreciates the efforts of the Government of India in bringing the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Passed in Lok Sabha on 30th March, 2022 and in Rajya Sabha on 5th April 2022, the Bill is aimed at strengthening the disciplinary mechanism of the three Institutes by including more external representation on Discipline Board and Committee and ensuring time bound dispos...
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has granted ex-post facto approval to the Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) entered into by Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICoAl) and Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) with various Foreign Countries/Organisations. The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICoAl) and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) have signed MoUs with foreign organisations namely Institute of Public Accountant...
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has started free online crash course for students who have enrolled for CS July 2020 examination. The crash course has been organised under ICSI e-VIDHYA VAHINI programme. The online classes are being conducted for Foundation, Executive and Professional programmes. The Professional and Executive courses will commence from 18 May, while Foundation course will start from 10 June. All the courses will continue till 2 July. The courses are f...
Private companies with total outstanding debt of Rs 100 crore or more to banks and financial institutions will now have to submit a secretarial audit report to the government, according to a rule notified by the corporate affairs ministry on Monday. Under the previous rules, public companies with a paid-up share capital of Rs 50 crore or more or those with a turnover of Rs 250 crore or more were required to submit secretarial audit reports along with their board reports. In a move aimed at bo...
Comments