Securities and Exchange Board of India (hereinafter referred to as “SEBI”) invites applications of eligible CA firms / companies (hereinafter referred to as “applicant”) for empanelment to take up assignments relating to forensic audit of financial statements of listed companies.
1. Eligibility criteria for empanelment
The applicant–
i. Should have minimum 10 years of experience in the field of forensic audit.
ii. Should have a minimum of 10 Partners / Directors out of which 5 Partners / Directors should be actively involved in forensic audit related work.
iii. Should have employed at least 20 persons (full time), having relevant qualification, experience and expertise in the field of forensic audit, out o f which at least 3 employees/ Partners / Directors should have qualification relevant to the forensic audit (such as Certified Fraud Examiner, ICAI certification on Forensic Accounting and Fraud, etc.).
iv. The applicant should have had experience of undertaking at least 15 forensic audits (total) in past 3 years out of which at least 3 forensic audits should be undertaken upon assignment by the regulatory body / Government agency / Public Sector Enterprise it is empanelled with.
v. Total revenue of the firm from forensic audit assignments in the last 3 financial years must be at least INR 1 cr.
vi. Should have branches in at least 2 metros.
2. Procedure for Empanelment
i. The decision for empanelment of an applicant shall be taken by the Competent Authority on a comparative assessment of the applications received and if necessary through an interaction with the authorized representative of the applicant. The decision of the Competent Authority shall be binding on all entities.
ii. The competent authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all the applications without assigning any reason.
3. Fees for Empanelment\
i. Upon successful completion of the forensic audit assignment and upon acceptance of the forensic audit report by SEBI, the forensic audit firm will be paid fees in the range of INR 7 lakhs – INR 24 lakhs exclusive of statutory taxes. The exact amount of fees paid within the aforesaid payment range would depend on following two factors:
a. No. of years for which forensic audit is conducted
b. Size of the listed company for which forensic audit is conducted
4. Disqualification
Application shall not be considered where disciplinary action / proceedings have been initiated against the applicant, its partners / directors, by any regulatory body or court of law.
5. Mode of application:
The detailed application as per the Annexure should be sent to SEBI at the below mentioned address by Courier / speed post with the envelope marked as “Application for Empanelment of Forensic Auditor” so as to reach us within 21 days from the date of advertisement. (Date of advertisement is 21.05.2021)
Chief General Manager
Corporation Finance Investigation Department
Securities and Exchange Board of India
SEBI Bhavan, Plot No. C- 4A, ‘G’ Block,
Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East)
Mumbai – 400 051
Phone: +91-22-26449000/40459000
A soft copy (MS-Word/ MS-Excel version) may also be sent by email to email address “forensic@sebi.gov.in”.
It may be noted that application received in any other manner or after the aforesaid due date are liable to be summarily rejected.
To read full advertisement and format of application which needs to sent CLICK HERE.
