ICAB says only its members have legal statutory audit rights

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has said that only ICAB members, who are chartered accountants, are legally authorised to conduct statutory audits in Bangladesh.

Amid recent calls for reforms in auditing institutions, the ICAB, at a press conference today (19 June), urged the government to continue entrusting chartered accountants with the responsibility of auditing financial statements.

ICAB President Maria Howlader said, "The ICAB strictly follows the guidelines and standards of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in its education and examination systems, which ensures global recognition for our profession. No other professional body in Bangladesh has such legal or international recognition for auditing."

Referring to a press conference held by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) on 17 June, the ICAB president said, "Several misleading and incorrect statistics were presented at that event."

She clarified that currently, Bangladesh has 613 practising chartered accountants, supported by 145 associate chartered accountants and more than 12,000 skilled professionals working under 259 chartered accountancy firms.

Maria said, "While the ICMAB claimed that there are 3,00,000 registered business entities in the country, the number of active entities is far lower. In 2024, a total of 57,993 Document Verification Codes were issued for audited entities – corresponding closely with the number of corporate income tax return submissions. Thus, ICMAB's claim of an auditor shortage is not fact-based."

She further said that blaming auditors for the alleged siphoning of $17 billion from the country is unjust and baseless. "Attempting to associate chartered accountants with money laundering, non-performing loans, capital market irregularities, or declining foreign investment is nothing but a targeted attack on the dignity of the profession," she added.

Addressing ICMAB's claim to be a founding member of IFAC, Maria asserted that only the ICAB holds that status in Bangladesh. "The ICAB adheres to IFAC's International Education Standards (IES) through its articleship programme, while ICMAB's statements in this regard are inaccurate and misleading."

She also noted that under the Financial Reporting Act 2015, members of ICMAB do not have any legal authority to audit financial statements.

The ICAB highlighted that it strictly follows the International Standards on Auditing to ensure the quality of audits. The legal right to audit in Bangladesh is reserved exclusively for ICAB members under the Companies Act, 1994. Similar practices exist in countries like the UK, Australia, India, and the United States, where only CA or CPA members are authorised to conduct statutory audits – CMA members are not granted this authority.

In response to a journalist's question, ICAB leaders explained that chartered accountants are not involved in money laundering or loan default scandals. The absence of such issues in past audit reports was due to regulatory restrictions and government policy directives. When government rules, or even court orders, direct auditors not to raise questions regarding non-performing loans in banks or financial institutions, chartered accountants are unable to carry out their work independently.