NFRA Enforcement on Statutory Audit Independence & SA-600

The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), constituted under Section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013, issued stringent audit quality inspection guidelines concerning group audits (Standard on Auditing SA 600) and auditor independence.

• NFRA is an independent quasi-judicial regulator for accounting and auditing standards in listed companies and large unlisted public companies.
• Section 143 of Companies Act 2013 defines powers and duties of statutory auditors (including reporting on internal financial controls and fraud § 143(12)).
• SA 700 series governs auditor’s report formats: Clean/Unmodified, Qualified, Adverse, or Disclaimer of Opinion.
• Distinguish NFRA’s jurisdiction from ICAI’s disciplinary committee (ICAI handles general chartered accountants; NFRA handles public interest entities).