ICAB refutes ‘misinformation’ made by ICMAB on audit profession

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has condemned and unequivocally refuted several misinformation made by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) in their press conference held on Tuesday, regarding audit rights and professional standing of Chartered Accountants.

In a statement on Wednesday, the institute said, “ICAB is fully committed to upholding the highest standards of financial reporting, auditing, and corporate governance. Our members are uniquely qualified and play an indispensable role in ensuring transparency, accountability, and sustainable economic growth for the nation.”

The ICAB clarified some points to reject misrepresentations made by ICMAB in the press conference.

“At present, there are 613 practising CAs, supported by another 145 CAs, 12,000 plus competent professional staff are working under 259 CA firms. The number of registered entities is more than 300,000, whereas the active entities are much lower, which is also acknowledged by ICMAB,” according to the statement.

“In reality, the total DVC generated for audited entities in 2024 were 57,993, which also corresponded to the number of income tax returns filed. Hence, ICMAB’s statement about the shortage of auditors in Bangladesh is not correct.”

“Blaming auditors for facilitating to siphoning off of $17 billion is baseless. Therefore, alleged money laundering, nonperforming loan, share market debacle, lower foreign investment and other issues mentioned by ICMAB blaming auditors indicate a malafide intention to defame the audit profession.”

It said, “ICMAB’s claim as a founding member of IFAC is not true. From Bangladesh, only ICAB is the founding member of IFAC. ICMAB has also misrepresented the experience requirement as stated in the International Education Standards (IES) of IFAC, while ICAB rigorously follows the IES requirement through its articleship programme.”

The statement pointed out, “Sec 2(13), 2(18) and 2(19) of FRA 2015, as referred by ICMAB, do not confer the rights to conduct an audit of a financial statement to any member of ICMAB.”

“CMAs are not allowed to conduct an audit of financial statements in almost all countries. For example, Chartered Accountants or similar professionals (CPA) are only eligible to conduct audits in the UK, Australia, USA, India, Sri Lanka, etc.”

“ICAB once again reiterates its commitment to ensure the integrity of the audit profession and continues to foster a collaborative professional environment that ultimately benefits all stakeholders for national interest,” the statement added.