Preface ​

Section 143(3) of the Companies Act, 2013 prescribes various matters on which auditors are required to report in their auditor’s report. Section 143(3)(j) states that auditor’s report shall also state such other matters as may be prescribed. Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014 specifies such other matters that are to be reported by auditors. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide notification dated March 24, 2021 issued the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Amendment Rules, 2021 which made various changes in Rule 11 of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014. These changes include new Rule 11(g) which has prescribed a new reporting requirement for auditors. The Rule 11(g) requires auditors to report on the use of accounting software by company for maintaining its books of account which has a feature of recording audit trail. The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB) of ICAI decided to develop an Implementation Guide for providing appropriate guidance to the members on this new reporting requirement so that the members can discharge their responsibilities in an effective manner.

It gives us immense pleasure to place in hands of the members, this “Implementation Guide on Reporting under Rule 11(g) of the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014” brought out by the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. The Implementation Guide was initially developed by a study group constituted by the Board for this purpose and thereafter it was finalised with the contribution of the Board members. The Implementation Guide contains detailed guidance on various aspects of reporting under Rule 11(g) including the various audit procedures to be performed. The Implementation Guide will enable auditors of companies to comply with the reporting requirement under this Rule effectively.

We are extremely grateful to all members of the study group viz. CA. Shriniwas Y. Joshi, CA. Deepa Agarwal, CA. Sanjay Parekh, CA. Lalit Kumar, CA. Pritesh Amin, CA. Pranav Jain and CA. Ridhima Dubey for sparing time out of their other preoccupations to write this Implementation Guide. We express our sincere thanks to Shri K T Saravanabhava for his contribution in finalizing this Implementation Guide.

We would like to thank CA. Aniket Sunil Talati, Honourable President, ICAI, CA. Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal, Honourable VicePresident, ICAI and CA. Debashis Mitra, Honourable immediate Past President, ICAI for their guidance and support in various endeavours of the Board.

We wish to place on record high appreciation of all members of the Board for their active contribution in finalising this Implementation Guide. We appreciate the contribution made by CA. Megha Saxena, Secretary, AASB, CA. Devender Pandey, Consultant and other staff of AASB in finalising this Implementation Guide.

We are confident that the Implementation Guide would be well received by the members and other interested readers.

CA. Vishal Doshi
Vice Chairman, AASB

CA. (Dr.) Sanjeev Kumar Singhal
Chairman, AASB