Neha, a Practicing Company Secretary was appointed as the Secretarial Auditor of Nex Ltd. Neha was issued an engagement letter, soon after his appointment. Later, the Management of the company reached out to Neha, seekin

The Audit Engagement Letter shall inter alia include: The objective and scope of the audit; The responsibilities of the Auditor and the Auditee; Written representations provided and/or to be provided by the Management to the Auditor, including particulars of the Predecessor or Previous Auditor; The period within which the audit report shall be submitted by the Auditor, along with milestones, if any; The commercial terms regarding audit fees and reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses in connection with the audit; and Limitations of audit, if any. Where the objective and scope of the audit and responsibilities of the Management and of the Auditor have been established by law, the Audit Engagement Letter shall give a reference to the provisions of the relevant law along with a statement that the Management acknowledges and understands its responsibilities for preparation and maintenance of records and for devising proper systems to ensure compliance with the provisions of applicable laws, acts, rules, regulations and standards for the time being in force. Changes in terms of engagement The Auditor shall not agree to a change in the terms of the Audit Engagement where there is no reasonable justification for doing so. If before completion of the assignment, the Auditor is requested by the Appointing Authority to change the scope of engagement, resulting in a lower level of assurance, the Auditor shall consider the appropriateness of carrying out the same. If the terms of the Audit Engagement are changed, the Auditor and the Appointing Authority shall agree on the new terms of the engagement by way of a supplementary/revised engagement letter or any other suitable form in writing. As per Para 5.1 of CSAS-1, unless there is reasonable justification for doing so, the auditor shall not agree to change the terms of Audit Engagement. Further, if before completion of the assignment, the Auditor is requested by the Appointing Authority to change the scope of engagement, resulting in a lower level of assurance, the Auditor shall consider the appropriateness of carrying out the same. As per Para 5.3 of CSAS-1, whenever there are changes in terms of Audit Engagement, the Auditor and Appointing authority shall agree on new terms of the engagement by way of supplementary / revised engagement letter or any other suitable form of writing.