Muscat – The four-month grace period is to adjust their situation under Article 23 of the Accounting and Auditing Profession’s Law for violating the law, as well as failure to comply with the international auditing standards.

The decision was made after an inspection showed that the firm did not conduct audit processes before giving opinion on the financial statements of the customers. Besides, it failed to keep all audit files, which is a violation of Article 22 of the law obligating auditors to keep such files for ten years after the end of the audited financial year.

Maintaining the files is an essential part of documentation process, which helps to review procedures taken during the audit process and ensure compliance with international auditing standards. This further reflects on the quality of the professional performance.

The audit teams of the FSA also detected a number of violations related to due practice of the profession. One such is the compliance with international professional standards during the audit process, especially International Auditing Standard No. 700, which obligates auditors to include opinion on the financial statements in the final audit reports. Such violations are breach of technical and professional controls in the performance of the audit.

FSA emphasises that such actions are within the applications of highest standards of professional conduct; it enhances compliance with laws and regulations governing the accounting the auditing profession so as to render high quality services and maintain confidence of consumers in the industry.