MUSCAT: Oman’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) has suspended Ideal Value for Auditing and Financial Consulting from practising accounting and auditing for six months after an inspection identified multiple violations of professional and international auditing requirements.
The decision was issued by the FSA’s Professional Conduct Committee following inspection and review procedures that found breaches of the Law Regulating the Accounting and Auditing Profession as well as international auditing standards, the regulator said.
Among the violations, the FSA said the owner of the firm had allowed an individual to practise on behalf of the company without completing formal appointment procedures or obtaining the required approvals.
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The regulator also identified shortcomings in the firm’s audit practices, including preparing financial statements and subsequently auditing them, failing to properly document engagement terms with clients and failing to maintain adequate records of audit work, procedures and results.
The firm also failed to determine materiality during audit planning and implementation for assessing the risks of material misstatement, according to the FSA.
Other violations included inadequate procedures to verify the physical existence and condition of material inventory and shortcomings in auditing related-party transactions.
The authority said the firm had also failed to present the auditor’s opinion in some audit reports in accordance with prescribed procedures and had not included performance comparisons when disclosing audited financial reports.
The FSA said deficiencies in audit work could affect the sufficiency and appropriateness of evidence used to form a professional opinion, potentially reducing the reliability of reports and undermining confidence among users of financial statements.
It urged accounting and auditing firms under its supervision to comply with applicable laws, regulations and approved professional standards.
The regulator said such compliance was essential to protect the interests of financial statement users and strengthen confidence in Oman’s non-banking financial sector.
