New Delhi: The government has sought clarity
from auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) about their
operations and business plans in India.
"Come back with a plan. What is that you are responsible
for? What is that you should be responsible for?" Corporate
Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters while replying to
questions about his meeting with senior representatives of PWC
early this week.
PWC has been in the news for the wrong reasons as its
auditors were involved in auditing the books of accounts of
fraud-stricken Satyam Computer Services.
Regretting that there was no clarity on the working of
the big four auditing firms, the Minister said, "I think it is
an unsatisfactory situation - they practice and they don't
practice... First be clear (on) what you want to do in this
country and how and then take responsibility for what you
do". The big four auditing forms in the country are PWC,
KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst and Young.
On the agenda of the meeting with PWC representatives,
Khurshid said, " The meeting has nothing to do specifically
with Satyam matter, but it's got to do with sustainable
permanent arrangement that should be there for foreign firm
practising in India".
Accounting regulator ICAI, in its report submitted to
the government last month, has found Price Waterhouse--the
auditors of erstwhile Satyam Computer--guilty.
The disciplinary committee of the ICAI has found four
auditors from Price Waterhouse --S Gopalakrishnan, Srinivas
Talluri, P Shiva Prasad and C H Ravindranath prima facie
guilty of professional misconduct, the institute’s president
Uttam Prakash Agarwal said.
Earlier, in a presentation made to the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs, to give a picture about the operations of
the big four accounting firms, the Chartered Accountant's
Action Committee had brought out some interesting facts about
the ownership and operating style of the firms.
The presentation raised questions like "Who is their
owner?"
"Even though present in over 120 countries, for
obvious reasons each one of them is headquartered in a tax
haven," the body said.
Further it also presented facts like they have been
paid billions of dollars as fine in the US alone to the SEC,
while in the UK they are being subjected to investigations
under the Fair Trade Practices Act.
The MCA had also asked ICAI to seek information from
the foreign firms operating in India as to on what terms and
conditions they allow Indian accounting firms to use their
names. The responses, however, the ICAI said, is awaited.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 20:49