SRO « Commonwealth » will reduce the regulatory load on auditors
A self -regulatory organization (SRO) of auditors proposes to reduce the regulatory burden on market participants, in particular, to save them from the need to comply with duplicate requirements in terms of combating laundering. Certain requirements of applicable legislation and regulatory acts are redundant and limit the work of auditors, believe in SRO. However, their cancellation will require a lot of norm -making work.
SRO « Commonwealth » is going to reduce the regulatory burden on the participants of the audit market, it follows from the developed « Plan of measures for the development of the audit profession » (Kommersant got acquainted with it). In particular, SRO is developing proposals for the exclusion of duplicate control functions of the SRO, the Federal Treasury and the Central Bank in the field of under/FT. It is also planned to prepare proposals for reducing and simplifying the functions of auditors in the field of under/FT with a simultaneous proposal of measures to increase the efficiency of such systems through other mechanisms. In addition, it is supposed to formulate the position of the SRO in terms of approach to the competitive selection of auditors during various procurement of goods and services.
Currently, a verification of compliance with the requirements of the legislation on the under/FT is carried out by the Federal Treasury (FC) for those companies who are admitted to the audit of socially significant organizations (OZO). At the same time, during the inspections, this control should also exercise this control. According to the auditors, double checks are a large load. As Dmitry Limarenko, CEO of Univer Audit, notes, “These checks are very similar-in particular, both SRO and Treasury request internal administrative documents, look at whether the auditors are undergoing relevant training, whether they are sent to Rosfinmonitoring of messages, etc.” In addition, in time, checking the SRO can take 1.5-3 months, about the same number will be checked by the Treasury, but it often happens that the checks are extended, Kommersant’s interlocutors note.
Any audit on the part of the regulatory authorities is the time during which the resources of the auditors are “not busy providing services to the client, and, therefore, contain exclusively costs for working hours without oncoming compensation,” explains Svetlana Krapiveveva, head of the KSK Group IFRS. According to her, the SRO proposal is that for the auditors of the OZO this type of control is assigned only to FC, which would exempt both the company and the SRO from a similar verification. Discussion of this measure is carried out at the level of the SRO commissions, the interlocutor of Kommersant from among the auditors notes.
At the same time, the reduction and simplification of the functions of auditors in the field of under/FT should also help the market participants. According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in the audit market, now this function is more important for banks, « since they see all money transactions online. » “The auditors are working with historical information, that is, during the audit they get access to information about already accomplished operations,” explains Polina Viksna, managing partner of the Marillion group of companies. According to her, the assignment on the auditors of the same functions for under/FT, as well as on persons directly carrying out operations, « does not affect the fact that the operations risky from the point of view of the under/FT will not be carried out, but at the same time leads to a serious increase in the load on auditing organizations. »
Structuring the requirements within the framework of the legislation on competitive selection (under the laws “On the contract system in the field of procurement …” (44-ФЗ) and “On the purchase of goods, works and services by certain types of legal entities” (223-ФЗ)) will help improve the quality of services provided by auditors. “Competitions held in accordance with 44-ФЗ or 223-ФЗ for the choice of auditors are often structured in such a way that the qualitative assessment criteria are not very important and the main role is played by the price of the proposal,” says the UNICON CEO Vladislav Roylyaev. As a result, due to ineffective criteria, the one who “offers the lowest price, which prevents organizations from choosing a quality auditor,”, he said.
However, in this case, a noticeable adjustment of the legislation will be required. According to Pavel Mitrofanov, the general director of the “Business Development Expert”, accounting for non-value parameters, “like an entry into the register, the availability of an individual reliability rating, some kind of reference of the companies that have been provided” would be correctly implemented in bankruptcy selection.
