concurrent audit of punjab and sind bank for the year 2014-15

i. The Chartered Accountants firm should preferably be a partnership firm with at least one FCA partner. The auditor has to attend branch/office for at least 14 days in a calendar month. The FCA would visit the branch personally at least 4 times in a month or as decided by the bank.

ii. The Sole Proprietorship Chartered Accountant firms will be discouraged, however, in case proprietor is a FCA and has employed an ex-banker of scale-II & above for conducting concurrent audit, the Bank, on merit of each such case, would consider the application. The auditor has to attend branch/office for at least 14 days in a calendar month. Further, in such cases the FCA would visit the branch personally at least 4 times in a month or as decided by the bank.

iii. The license of the proprietor / Key Person of the partnership concern has been issued for Full Time practice by The Institute of Chartered Accountants and the proprietor/ Key Person of the partnership firm is not in another Full Time Service.

iv. The firms will be selected from the RBI panel as per gradation suggested for Branch Statutory Auditor appointment.

v. The firms should preferably have qualified Information System Auditor (CISA/DISA) with adequate exposure of more than 1 year in systems audit. IS audit would be conducted in accordance with IS Audit policy of the Bank & as per format provided by the bank, which should form an integral part of concurrent audit.

vi. The firms should have been established for at least 3 years prior to the date of application. The audit firm or any sister / associate concern / network firm should not have been debarred/de-paneled/ is not conducting the statutory audit of the Bank or any of its branches. Preference will be given to the firms where the partners themselves were ex-bankers or the firm has got tie-up with ex-bankers, of scale-II & above, with requisite experience and exposure. In case, CA firm is doing auditing work/providing any professional Services to any of the customers of the Bank, this must be disclosed by way of an undertaking/declaration given below: “ We have been allotted Concurrent Audit work of your Branch Office……………… for the period………..to ………….. . In this regard, it is declared that our firm is / has been providing Professional Services/ is an Auditor of the following customers of the Branch. This declaration must be enclosed with every monthly/quarterly report sent by you.”

vii. The firm is not in any case disqualified under provision of Sec.226 of Companies Act, 1956. The firm or any of its associate firm(s) have never been de-paneled due to poor performance.

viii. Preference should be given to those firms who have adequate exposure in conducting concurrent audit of the Bank branches of public sector / major private sector banks.

ix. The firms should have necessary office set up within same city or periphery of the allotted branch/office and adequate personnel to ensure proper deployment and timely completion of the assignments.

x. The firm has to undertake Risk Based Concurrent Audit as per checklist & audit formats of the Bank. On the implementation of Risk Based Concurrent Audit system in the bank the concurrent auditors would give rating or grade, as per policy of the bank, for the audit entity. This rating should be based on his observations about branch functioning.

xi. The firm would mandatorily sign the Dos & Don’t statement & abide by Dos & Don’ts issued by the Bank.

xii. The tenure of the concurrent audit would be initially for one year and can be extended for a further period of one year (overall two years), based on the performance of the auditor in the first year, provided the firm applies afres honline for the year 2014-15 and the firms may be considered for audit assignment in other audit units/ locations or areas. However, after having conducted concurrent audit for two years continuously, the concerned CCA will be given one year break (Cooling period), before reappointing them or their associate concern(s).

xiii. At any point of time, not more than one audit assignment would be awarded to any single firm. An audit assignment that needs to be carried out across the branches/ units at different locations would be considered as a single assignment for this purpose.

xiv. Cooling period of two years would be observed for a firm to become eligible for appointment in the same audit unit purely at the discretion of the Bank and no rights whatsoever accrue to the firm for such appointment.

xv. The audit coverage should be strictly as per the scope of audit as may be decided by the Bank from time to time.

xvi. The concurrent auditor should not undertake any other activity/ assignment on behalf of the branch or unit without obtaining the prior concurrence of the audit department in writing.

The above fee is exclusive of Service Tax.

xviii. No out of pocket expenses or traveling allowance / halting allowance would be paid to the concurrent audit firms for carrying out the assignment. However, the service tax, education cess etc. would be paid as applicable from time to time in addition to the basic fee. The concurrent auditors may be reimbursed actual out of pocket expenses incurred in connection with travel involved for conducting stock audits. The payment to the concurrent auditors would be subject to deduction of tax at source at appropriate rates.

xix. All the necessary certificates that need to be given as a part of the concurrent audit assignment (Bills of Entry verification, A1/A2 Forms etc.) would be given by the audit firm under its letterhead without any additional certification fee.

xx. On the implementation of Risk Based Concurrent Audit system in the bank the concurrent auditors would give rating or grade, as per policy of the bank, for the audit entity. This rating should be based on his observations about branch functioning.

xxi. The Concurrent auditor shall use the checklist and other operating guidelines provided by the Bank. Need based training / consultation would be provided to them for enhancing the quality of the audit.

xxii.The Concurrent auditor i.e. Chartered Accountant Firm will also undertake stock audit function for which they will be suitably remunerated, as per policy of the Bank.

xxiii.All matters of grave nature, as defined & communicated by the Bank from time to time, which are likely to cause loss to the bank, in respect of which immediate action is called for on the part of the Branch/Zonal/Head Office have to be informed immediately by way of Confidential/Flash Reports. Before drawing up the report, the Concurrent Auditor should have a thorough discussion with the in-charge of audit unit to ascertain all relevant points/facts on the subject to be covered in the confidential/flash report. The copies of reports need not be given to the Branch. Such reports should be sent to General Manager (Inspection) with a copy to respective Zonal Manager. The Concurrent Auditor should invariably furnish therein his views/opinion/conclusions based on his findings.

xxiv.The concurrent audit report is to be submitted to Branch, Zonal Office and respective Zonal Inspectorate, however, CCAR for quarter end is to be submitted to HO. Inspection Dept. also.

xxv.A formal wrap-up discussion with the in-charges of audit unit along with the concurrent auditors will be held once in quarter with the Zonal Manager, at Zonal Office. In case of audit of departments at Head Office, the wrap up discussion with HOD alongwith concurrent auditors would be held with General Manger (Inspection) once in a quarter at Head Office.

xxvi.The CCA should ensure that the deficiencies pointed out in the concurrent audit reports are rectified & closed within a reasonable period, as prescribed by the bank. The pending issues of the previous reports need to be mentioned as a persisting irregularity/deficiency in the subsequent reports and the audit reports i.e. monthly and quarter ended. The concurrent audit reports of quarter end are to be formally closed once in a quarter.

xxvii.The concurrent auditor is to submit the report (a softcopy through email followed by Hard copy) strictly as per the schedule prescribed. Any delay in submission should result in withholding the professional fee, which should be released after the approval from General Manager (Inspection). Repeated instance would lead to cancellation of assignment.

xxviii.The concurrent auditor to carry out assignment in a professional manner and in case of any misconduct & negligence the Bank will report the matter to ICAI / RBI. This will be in addition to the disengagement from the assignment.

xxix.In the event of colluding with customer/third part causing pecuniary loss/damage to the bank, the bank shall recommend the name of the concurrent auditor to IBA for inclusion in its caution list circulated among banks on the advice of RBI, besides termination of assignment.