ICAI: ICAI’s disciplinary committee probing alleged auditing lapses in Byju’s case

Chartered accountants’ apex body ICAI President Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal on Monday said its disciplinary committee is investigating alleged auditing lapses at edutech firm Byju’s. However, he did not divulge specific details about the issues that are being looked at.

At a briefing in the national capital, Agarwal said at the institute, there are various stages for disciplinary mechanism.

The matter related to Byju’s has been referred to the disciplinary committee by the disciplinary directorate and investigations are going on, he said.

Specific details such as whether the directorate has prima facie found any violations were not disclosed by him.

Responding to queries, Agarwal also said the directorate has powers to either close a matter or recommend it for the consideration of the committee. Byju’s matter has been sent to the committee, which is investigating it, he added.

In March this year, Agarwal had said ICAI found gross negligence on the part of the auditors of Byju’s and that the matter was referred to the Financial Reporting Review Board (FRRB) to take punitive actions on the auditors concerned.

FRRB had referred the matter to the disciplinary directorate. Byju’s has been facing multiple headwinds, including financial and legal woes. In October this year, the Supreme Court set aside the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) verdict that had stopped insolvency proceedings against the edutech firm.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has more than four lakh members.