Makes ICAB registration mandatory for interested firms
The telecom regulator on Sunday floated a fresh tender for auditing the mobile phone companies with a condition that participating firms must have registration of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission earlier cancelled its previous tender for the same job that was intended for international audit firms amid pressure from local auditors.
According to the latest BTRC tender, the interested ICAB registered firms must have association with a foreign audit or consultancy firm and have to submit the application by March 3.
In the tender the BTRC has intended to hire an audit firm to check actual imports, relevant invoices, actual prices of equipment and the software and installation of the telecom equipments.
The firm will also be responsible for finding out the actual revenue generated and the calculation procedure to make the payment to the BTRC, National Board of Revenue and other agencies for a particular or whole licensing period and reconcile those with the operator’s financial statements.
The ICAB, after the first tender for international audit firm last year, opposed the move saying that as per the country’s law ‘a foreign audit firm can work in other capacity here like a consultant but cannot be appointed as an auditor.’
The BTRC, however, decided to hire international audit firms as controversies were raised after the commission conducted audit of two mobile phone companies in 2011 by local auditors.
In May 2011, the telecom regulator appointed a firm which audited Grameenphone, the country’s largest mobile phone operator, and submitted a report in October. According to the report, the operator’s outstanding amount to the government was Tk 3,034 crore in unpaid revenue and tax.
Two other firms were also appointed to audit the second largest operator, Banglalink, but the auditors later declined to continue.
The matter was taken to court and the Supreme Court on December 9, 2013 declared the appointment of firms by the telecom regulator to open audits into mobile phone operators illegal.
-With New Age input
