Govt may randomly check company accounts

new delhi: the government is contemplating reviewing books of accounts of companies at random in a bid to bring transparency in the accounting practice. official sources told pti that the accounts of companies, irrespective of sectors, would be selected at random for the scrutiny just as it is done in the income tax department. "instilling fear of random checks will bring compliance and fair and diligent review of state of affairs," the sources said. if on the review, anything amiss is found in the audit, the companies would be asked to correct the books failing which subsequent action would be taken against the management and auditors. however, anything concrete would be formulated only after thorough debate with the stakeholders, sources said. it is possible to put in place such a review within this fiscal, but it depended on the outcome of debate, they added. it is also learnt that the expertise of institute of chartered accountants of india (icai), institute of company secretaries of india (icsi) and institute of cost and work accountants of india (icwai). it is to be noted that icai had been constantly coming up with improved accounting norms in a bid to infuse corporate governance on which the kumara mangalam birla committee had suggested many measures including setting up of an independent audit company for the listed entities. sources said the drive for transparency would start at the lowest level.