In its efforts to enhance the accountability in the audit profession as a whole in the Sultanate of Oman, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) issued a warning on Tuesday against the audit firm Crowe Mak Ghazali.
The warning is a result of CMA’s supervision over some listed entities where major financial and accounting irregularities were investigated by CMA team.
This had prompted CMA to enforce immediate corrective measures in those listed entities to protect investors and other stakeholders.
CMA undertook a comprehensive review of the causes that included understanding the reason of the non-discovery and non-reporting of such misstatements by the auditors.
This review established shortfalls on the part of audit firm that warranted disciplinary measures against them in the interests of the investors and other stakeholders.
CMA concluded that Crowe had failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence and to apply sufficient professional skepticism in certain areas of the audit. CMA advises the accredited firms to adhere to International Standards on Auditing (ISA) while also ensuring that the financial reporting is strictly in compliance with the requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) that are mandatory in the Sultanate.
CMA expects from the audit firm against whom the recent disciplinary measure has been taken, is to carry out comprehensive internal reviews to identify causes and make required course of corrections.
CMA also advises the accredited firms to implement robust internal quality control procedures to avoid such occurrence in future. This can go hand in hand with the adoption of proactive and holistic quality management system as detailed in ISQM 1, ISQM 2, and ISA 220, which will become effective in December 2022.
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