No real action against auditors

NEW DELHI: Despite serious questions over the gross lapses in auditing in Satyam, auditing regulator Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) Monday came out with a virtual ineffectual response , refusing any interim action against the suspect auditors of Pricewaterhouse, while blaming the management for the failures.

ICAI also refused any action against a Pricewaterhouse auditor who continues on its council, despite being part of the tainted Satyam audit as well as that of Global Trust Bank, another case where the auditor's role was criticized and is under investigation by ICAI.

ICAI though maintained that it had taken a "serious view" of the matter which was debated at its council meeting where officials of PwC abstained. ICAI president Ved Jain said that henceforth , if any partner was found guilty of crimes that attract a ban of five years and more, the name of the audit firm would be listed on its website.

The website will say that it has, or had, a partner against whom action was taken for being part of a serious lapse. Jain said that ICAI also plans to go to market regulator Sebi to help expose such audit firms. However, this action again shows ICAI's inability to take any direct action against big firms.