Will auditors unite to establish professional council?
The Ministry of Finance has presented the model of the Unified Supervisory Agency at a meeting of the Committee for the Development of Self-Regulation of the Presidium of the Atameken NCE RK chaired by Ulan Bayzhanov.
The Unified Supervisory Agency will act as an arbitrator on monitoring the quality of the audit. According to Arman Bekturova, Director of the Accounting, Audit and Assessment Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Council will not affect the functioning of PJSC but it will bring order to the industry.
“If you analyze the current situation on the market, you can say that the number of complaints and unqualified audits increases every year. About 200 new specialists may appear in Kazakhstan a year. Each PJSC sets its own requirements and examinations for beginners. We would not have initiated the creation of the Council if we had not received 85 per cent of the market’s customers’ approval,” Arman Bekturova said.
Adding that the Unified agency will become a non-governmental organization, which will include representatives of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan, the National Bank, KASE, the AIFC, five professional audit organizations and the Atameken NCE RK. They jointly with the state agency will develop basic quality control requirements in a consultative mode.
“Often auditors inspect themselves, which is unacceptable for quality control,” Arman Bekturova said.
In this case, the licensing of auditing and accreditation of PJSC will be held in the same mode. The functioning of this council will require 146 million tenge annually. Given that the Professional Council will be established by PJSC, the costs of its maintenance will be borne by the audit community.
In turn, the initiative to create a supervisory authority is not supported by all participants of the audit market. So the Board, Union and Institute of Auditors oppose the creation of a supervisory agency.
“Not all auditors are ready for this, many are afraid of losing customers, as the system will be able to push local companies out of the market,” Daniyar Nurseitov, chairman of the Board of Auditors PJSC, said.
Business is also concerned about the current situation on the market, the imperfection of the current system and unfinished rules and standards.
“The model proposed by the Ministry of Finance is not perfect. At the same time, the Atameken sees a problem in the market: there are poor conclusions. This cannot continue in that way. The position of the ministry in creating the Council is clear; the regulator of activity is responsible for any consequences. The main task of the market is to help in solving the existing problems. We are waiting for constructive proposals from the market itself,” Ulan Bayzhanov said.
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