J Ltd., having paid up capital of ₹ 150 crore and turnover of ₹ 1000 crore, has appointed a Company Secretary in Practice to carry out its Audit as per provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. Name the applicable Secretari

Applicable Secretarial Auditing Standard: CSAS-3: Auditing Standard on Forming of Opinion is applicable to Auditor while carrying out Audit under the Companies Act, 2013 or SEBI Act, 1992 or any other law for the time being in force. This Standard deals with the basis and manner for forming Auditor's opinion on subject matter of the audit. Process for forming of opinion: Forming of opinion based on the audit observations which is an important part of any audit as through this process the outcome of audit are presented in the form of Audit Report to the intended users. Audit inter alia involves reporting compliance of or deviations from the applicable laws. The Auditor shall consider Materiality while forming his opinion and adhere to: a) The principle of completeness that requires the Auditor to consider all relevant Audit Evidence before issuing a report; b) The principle of objectivity that requires the Auditor to apply professional judgment and scepticism in order to ensure that all reports are factually correct and that findings or conclusions are presented in a relevant and appropriate manner; c) The principle of timeliness that implies preparing the report in due time; and d) The principle of a contradictory process that implies checking the accuracy of facts and incorporating responses from concerned persons. Judgment, Clarification and Conflicting Interpretation. The Auditor may consider various judgments, clarifications, opinion, conflicting interpretations while framing the opinion to the best of his professional acumen. Third Party Report or Opinion Sometimes due to circumstances like geographical constraints or want of expertise an Auditor may be required to rely on the third party reports and third party reports may sometime also be arranged by the Auditee. The Auditor shall adhere to the following while forming an opinion based on Third Party reports or opinions: a) The Auditor shall indicate the fact of use of Third Party report or opinion and shall also record the circumstances necessitating the use of third party report or opinion; b) The Auditor shall indicate the fact if Third Party report or opinion is provided by the Auditee; c) The Auditor shall consider the important findings/observation of Third Party; d) The Auditor shall, if necessary and feasible, carry out a supplemental test to check veracity of the Third Party report or opinion.