The management of KDBC Ltd. appointed Girish as their Secretarial Auditor. What should an auditor keep in mind for the proposed audit engagement, prior to acceptance of any audit engagement, in order to establish whether

Prior to acceptance of any Audit engagement, the auditor, in order to establish whether the preconditions for accepting professional assignment are present, the auditor should check that: Whether the reporting framework as required in the preparation, performance of audit, review of the secretarial/ non-financial statements is acceptable; and Whether the management is in agreement to acknowledge and understands its responsibility relating to: Preparation of the secretarial/ non-financial statements in accordance with the applicable reporting framework, including their fair presentation; Development of internal control/systems/procedure to enable the preparation of secretarial/ non-financial statements which are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; and Providing: Access to all information of which management is aware that is relevant to the preparation/ audit/ review etc. of the secretarial/ non-financial statements such as records, documentation and other matters; Additional information that the auditor may request from management for the relevant purpose; and Unrestricted access to persons within the company from whom the auditor determines it necessary to obtain audit evidence. Limitation on scope prior to Engagement Acceptance: If management or appointing authority impose a limitation on the scope of the auditor's work in the terms of a proposed audit engagement such that the auditor believes the limitation will result in the auditor disclaiming an opinion on the Secretarial records/non-financial statements, the auditor shall not accept such a limited engagement as an audit engagement, unless required by law or regulation to do so. Other factors affecting Engagement Acceptance: If the preconditions for an audit/professional assignment are not present, the auditor should discuss the matter with management. Unless required by law or regulation to do so, the auditor should not accept the proposed audit engagement: If the auditor assesses that the reporting framework to be applied in the preparation of the secretarial records/ non-financial statements is unacceptable, or If the agreement has not been concluded.