A Practicing Company Secretary Firm, while submitting its Secretarial Audit Report, observed that there are lot of non-compliances of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. In view of this, explain the process for re

Reporting with Qualification A qualification, reservation or adverse remarks, if any, should be stated by the auditor at the relevant places in his report in bold type or in italics. If the auditor is unable to express an opinion on any matter, he should mention that he is unable to express an opinion on that matter and the reasons therefor. If the scope of work required to be performed is restricted on account of restrictions imposed by the company or on account of circumstantial limitations (like certain books or papers being in the custody of another person who is not available or a government authority), the report should indicate such limitations. If such limitations are so material that the Auditor is unable to express any opinion, the Auditor should state that in the absence of necessary information and records, he is unable to report on compliance(s) relating to such areas by the Company. Further, the Board of directors, in its report prepared under section 134(3) of the Companies Act, 2013, shall provide and explanation in full on any qualification or observation or other remarks made by the Company Secretary in practice in the secretarial audit report. Signing of Audit Report The auditor's signature is either in the name of the audit firm, the personal name of the auditor or both, as appropriate for the particular jurisdiction. In addition to in certain the auditor's signature, in jurisdictions, the auditor may be required to declare in the auditor's report the auditor's professional accountancy designation or the fact that the auditor or firm, as appropriate, has been recognized by the appropriate licensing authority in that jurisdiction. However, in case of secretarial audit report the report should be signed by the secretarial auditor who conducted or under whose supervision the secretarial audit was conducted indicating his FCS/ACS number along with certificate of practice number issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. In case of PCS firm, the secretarial audit report may be signed by the partner who conducted or under whose supervision the secretarial audit was conducted indicating his FCS/ACS number along with his certificate of practice number. The secretarial audit report cannot be signed by an employee of the PCS firm even if he/she may be a member of the ICSI holding certificate of practice number. As per Peer Review Guidelines of the ICSI, it is mandatory to mention the Peer Review Certificate Number in Secretarial Audit Report/Annual Secretarial Compliance Report and the signature of the PCS should be in following format: For XYZ & Associates Company Secretaries Name ............ FCS ............ CP ............ Date: ............ Place: ............ PR ............