The Audit Oversight Board (AOB) has revoked the registration of an audit firm and thereby stopped it from carrying out audit of public interest companies.
In line with its regular monitoring plan, AOB initiated an inspection of records to assess the audit quality of the firm, Mudassar Ehtisham & Co, in March 2019. The firm requested that inspection be delayed by three months. The firm's request was declined because inspection was of past audit records that should have been readily available.
Later, the firm did not let AOB inspectors conduct the inspection on the scheduled date when they visited the office of the firm in Lahore. Accordingly, AOB served a show cause notice on the firm and provided an opportunity to explain its position in writing and also provided an opportunity of being heard.
In the third hearing on April 30, 2019, the firm informed AOB that it is willing to get its records inspected. However, when AOB inspection team visited the office of the firm, it still did not provide complete information and the information that it provided carried instances of falsification.-PR