ICAB fines BSEC panel auditor for professional misconduct

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) council last month took disciplinary action against three partners of Ashraf Uddin and Co, which is a panel auditor of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), for professional misconduct.

According to an ICAB report, the council has imposed a monetary penalty of Tk1 lakh against Ashraf Uddin Ahmed, fined Enamul Kabir and Mohiuddin Ahmed Tk3 lakh each, and asked the duo to abstain from audit activity for one year.

The council also said failure to deposit the fine within the next three months starting on 22 February will carry a one-year suspension on audit activities of all three partners.

Mohiuddin Ahmed told The Business Standard, "There were some problems with the audit documentation, and action has been taken against us for this."

"Due to the ICAB action, we will not be able to sign any audit report for the next year. But we can do audit practice," he added.

According to the website of Ashraf Uddin and Co, its clients from the listed companies are Generation Next, Uttara Finance, Tamijuddin Textile, Eastern Insurance, and DESCO.

And its non-listed clients include Rahimafrooz, Rangs, Uttara Group, and US-Bangla.

Apart from Ashraf Uddin and Co, ICAB has taken punitive action against four partners of four other audit firms.

They are A Manna and Co's proprietor Abdul Mannan, Amal and Leena's proprietor Amal Krishna Das, Shafiq Mizan Rahman and Augustine's managing partner AKH Mizanur Rahman, and Masud Altaf and Co's proprietor Altaf Hossain Masud.

ICAB said in its disciplinary action report that the partners issued audit reports without obtaining sufficient and appropriate audit evidence. The firms do not have adequate human resources for conducting audit engagements.

ICAB President Md Moniruzzaman told the TBS, "We have always strived to ensure transparency and accountability in audit work. We do not hesitate to take disciplinary action against auditors for this."

Earlier, in January, the securities regulator banned audit firm Ahmed Zaker and Co from the stock market for collaborating with an asset management company to embezzle investors' funds.

It is alleged that the audit firm assisted Universal Financial Solutions (UFS) in embezzling Tk158 crore of investors' money.

According to specialists, the country has long been suffering from the government's revenue losses, banks' over-lending on inflated accounts, and a lack of investors' confidence in fabricated financial statements by a large number of companies.

The ICAB members are running over 150 CA firms in Bangladesh.