Peer Review Phase II Implemented by 4th Jan 2023: ICAI

ICAI mandates Peer Review Phase II to be implemented from 01/04/2023

• ICAI Practice Units may start & complete Peer Review of their firms on or before December 31, 2022, if the certificate they have been issued does not indicate the date that perhaps the certificate is valid.
• Peer Review Mandate – Phase II Roll Out mandate is becoming applicable from April 1, 2024*. The Practice Units may accordingly take note & subject themselves to the Peer Review process.
• The continuity of the existing Peer Review Certificate will be maintained in this manner.

• According to the ICAI’s plans to mandate the peer review process in stages, Phase II (starting on April 1, 2023) for acquiring a peer review certificate by the relevant practise units has been enforced.
• Phase II of the peer review procedure has been mandated by the ICAI and will go into effect on April 1st, 2023. It has been suggested that the practise units pay attention and submit for peer review.
• Peer Review Mandate – Roll Out” dated 12.02.2022 hosted at https://www.icai.org/post/peer-review-mandate-roll-out, the firms falling under Phase I of the roll out will be required to submit a declaration form https://forms.office.com/r/AA5Zpgdsrr by March 31, 2022.
• Peer review is a process where each audit firm must undertake a quality check by another company. The purpose of this process is to make sure that businesses create things that is up to par and in accordance with the criteria set by ICAI.
• In addition to assisting to maintain the quality of audit work, this action will operate as a deterrent for companies who disregard auditing and other requirements. So, the ICAI’s choice to implement a second round of peer review is to be commended and will substantially improve the standard of work performed by firms.

Applicability of Peer Review Audit

• This move is most welcome move by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India & will go a big way toward ensuring that the work is up to mark.

• Peer Review Audit Phase II (applicable to chartered Accountants firm having five partners or more ) got relaxation for 3 months is upto 30th June 2024.
• For Peer Review Audit Phase III (applicable to chartered Accountants firms having four partners & more) extension of 9 months is upto 31st Dec 2024.

Implementation of Audit Peer Review

• ICAI president Aniket Sunil Talati told Economic time has chosen to combine the second and third phases  set to widen its peer review mechanism for Chartered Accountants audit firms to ensure transparency & audit quality of this framework’s implementation, making the peer review system essential for auditors of large unlisted corporations starting in April 2024