Intermediaries appeared on the audit market
Against the backdrop of tightening control over the implementation of the requirements of anti-laundering legislation (115-ФЗ), new participants-intermediaries replenished the audit market. They contact the audit companies with a proposal to assure the reports of the finished pool of companies in which hundreds of organizations can be consistent.
The emergence of a new class of players in the audit market is reported at the largest professional Audit -it forum. A proposal was received by the phone: it was proposed to conduct an audit (mandatory) in 250 organizations for a revolutionary statement with a check of 60 thousand rubles. For verification, one of the interlocutors of Kommersant from among the auditors says. “They offered 250 organizations for an audit, the cost of each 60 thousand rubles, and half should be given to intermediaries,” says Arthur Karimov, director of Eurasia Audit. He explained to Kommersant that the company suggested on the basis of a very limited amount of documents to give a positive audit conclusion to the client.
According to market participants, intermediaries have a base of potential customers who are subject to an obligatory audit and are in search of an audit company with current accreditation in SRO and three certified auditors in the state at the main place of work. According to experts, the emergence of such intermediaries is associated with toughening control over compliance with the anti-laundering law115-ФЗ. In addition, the increase in the intensity of measures for the prevention of violation of the law of the under/FT by audit companies has entered the plan of the Ministry of Finance for the implementation of “main areas of state policy in the field of accounting …” (see “Kommersant” dated January 29).
According to the adviser to the Law Firm in Inga Skvortsova, when an audit receives an audit, violating the standards, he must notify Rosfinmonitoring about this, and intermediaries allow this to avoid and “protect” the client. In addition, according to the law, the auditor must timely submit information to Rosfinmonitoring about customer dubious transactions. This can be an additional factor in increasing demand for “loyal” and “silent” auditors who will not record the appropriate violations and notify Rosfinmonitoring about them, said the adviser to the legikon-laws, Alexei Nekrasov.
At the same time, in case of violation of the law of the intermediary, it will be difficult to hold accountable. In itself, mediation, if it comes down to the search for customers for an auditor on a reimbursable basis, does not contradict the law, explains Anna Barabash Enterprise Legal Solutions. According to the expert, even if violations and their consequences are of such a nature that there will be grounds for bringing to criminal liability of the audit and auditor, in particular under Art. 202 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for abuse of powers, the intermediary will most likely avoid it, because it would be necessary to prove that he knew and could not help but know about the intentions of the parties to violate the law, and this is unlikely. Responsibility will fall on the shoulders of the market participants, because, agreeing to the provision of their services in the presence of an intermediary, the auditor significantly increases the risks of responsibility for himself, including exclusion from the SRO and the loss of the opportunity to carry out professional activities, says Mrs. Barabash.
However, if the market of such intermediary services exists, then there are auditors who are ready to accept such risks, she notes. The activities of such intermediaries are indeed a problem for the audit market, says Boris Fedosimov, a member of the board of SRO. “The Rosfinmonitoring of companies that received an audit conclusion, and their financial and economic activities, as well as the correspondence of the value of the services actually rendered in average market prices,” ”said Alexei Nekrasov. In Rosfinmonitoring, they did not quickly respond to Kommersant’s request.
The outflow of auditors continues
According to a member of the Board of SRO Boris Fedosimov, according to the results of 2024, the audit market left 640 unscrupulous auditors. Of these, in connection with the cancellation of the certificate – 346 auditors, in connection with the voluntary statement of the output member – 198, on the basis of a solution to the time for the exclusion of the auditor, as determined by the Disciplinary Code of SRO – 70. This is about minus 3-4% relative to 2023, he adds.
According to Polina Viksna, managing partner of the Marillion Group of Companies, the main reason for maintaining a fairly large number of unscrupulous auditors is that the identification of unscrupulous auditors and confirmation that audit activities are formally conducted – this is a long process that requires a large number of resources, competencies, compliance with procedural requirements and formalities.
