'Revised norms will benefit big auditors'

Proposed revisions in the audit standard for consolidated financial statements of business groups could lead to the concentration of the audit market around big audit firms at the expense of other auditors, said an official of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the profession's self-regulator and rule maker.

- Gireesh Chandra Prasad

A senior ICAI official said the existing standard framed by it, SA600, has served well for the last 22 years and a few corporate scandals cited in a public feedback note for a proposed revision are aberrations, and must not be a basis for change. Audit concentration refers to a big chunk of the audit market going to top firms, a trend seen in the US and the UK.