Reserve Bank bars EY member firm Batliboi & Co from auditing bank books for 1 year on account of lapses

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday barred SR Batliboi & Co LLP, one of India’s leading chartered accountancy firms, from taking up a statutory audit of commercial banks for one year on account of lapses in an audit assignment. The one-year period starts from 1 April, 2019, the RBI said in a release. In June 2018, RBI had put in place an enforcement action framework in respect of statutory auditors for the lapses in the statutory audit of commercial banks. [caption id=“attachment_5684541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “…on account of the lapses identified in a statutory audit assignment carried out by the firm, M/s S.R.Batliboi & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants, it has been decided that RBI will not approve the said firm for carrying out statutory audit assignments in commercial banks for one year starting from 1 April, 2019,” the release said. It further said the action taken in the matter has been communicated to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). ICAI, which functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, regulates the profession of chartered accountancy in the country. The Reserve Bank release, however, did not disclose the details of the lapses by SR Batliboi & Co LLP. SR Batliboi & Co in a statement said: “We have learnt of this development from the press release issued by the RBI and are not aware of further details. Accordingly, we will be unable to comment further at this stage.”