New auditing guidelines for telecom sector

New Delhi, May 26: The Institute of Chartered Accountants today said the Auditing and Assurance Standards (AAS) will soon be rechristened as 'Engagement Standards' and provide new guidelines for auditing in the booming telecom sector.

In what will be seen as sweeping changes to the existing Auditing Standards in India, the new format which will be announced as soon as July this year will be more rigourous in terms of implementation.

''We will be coming out with a guidance note on auditing in the telecom sector and a brochure on 'What is an Audit?' for the pubic at large,'' said Director Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB) Vijay Kapur.

He further added,''We would also bring out a practitioners guide to audit small entreprises as well as a booklet on Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).'' The new name and a complete overhaul of the existing standards will take a couple of years, the new standards will make it mandatory to comply with Quality Control Standards, Mr Kapur said.

The new structure will also pave the way for adoption of the clarity format for presentation of financial documents.

It will also put an end to the public sector perspective prevalent in Indian auditing as AASB feels auditing is one and same for all organisations and firms.

Under the new set of measures to be initiated in July, it will make accounting standards more people friendly. It will also provide for observers from public to see how accounting standards are formulated.

Many documents relating to standard setting will be made public and AASB will make provisions for voting on standards from the members.

UNI