|
INSTRUCTIONS AND APPLICANT GUIDE FOR
MULTIPURPOSE PANEL FOR THE YEAR 2008-09 [Last date for submission of applications
on the website: 15th September, 2008. Last date for receipt of
hard copy of duly signed declaration: 25th September, 2008]. The system would be withdrawn
and submission would NOT be allowed after the above date and time. Members/firms
may please note that all requests for panels to be responded to by the
Institute will henceforth be prepared on the basis of the Multipurpose Empanelment
data only. If some firms/members do
not have their particulars on the Multipurpose Empanelment database, then
their data shall not be included in the panels prepared by the Institute. Members should note that
constitution detail of the firms as of 01.01.2008 is to be given in the
MEF. As far as other data (such as
engagements as Concurrent Auditors, or experience of audit or consultancy in
various sectors) are concerned, these should be given as of the date of the
application. As the address is required only for communication purposes, the
address registered latest with the Institute will appear in the address
column of the form. The
instructions and applicant guide for filling-up the Empanelment Form are
given hereinafter in three sections: Section Contents A Instructions for filling-up the
form offline and submitting the application B Submission of documents after submission of
application C Other Instructions Applicant should go
through the following before filling up the MEF form. (i) Instruction
& Application Guide for the year 2008-09. (ii) Technical Manual hosted on the site. (iii) RBI norms hosted on the link
http://www.icai.org Further, applicant should
himself fill up the MEF Form or in his presence; the form should be filled up
to so that the applicant is aware what is filled in the application form. 1.
Who can apply? a.
A member of the Institute whose main occupation is
the practice of the profession of accountancy as per the Chartered
Accountants Regulations, 1988. b.
A firm can apply if it has at least one partner
whose main occupation is the practice of the profession of accountancy.
However, no weightage will be given to the
partner(s) whose main occupation is not practice. 2.
Who cannot apply?
As
per the decision taken by the Council at its 241st meeting, w.e.f. 1.4.2005, any member whose main occupation is not
the practice of the profession of accountancy (namely, holding Certificate of
Practice and also engaging himself in any other business and/or occupation
including employment in a Chartered Accountant firm) will not be entitled to
perform attest function and thus, cannot apply. 3.
Members may please note
that if any information given in the form contradicts the information given
elsewhere in the form or if any information is incorrect, or if there is
concealment of information, or the form is submitted by an ineligible
applicant then such applicant would be liable for disciplinary proceedings,
in addition to the rejection of the application. 4.
The Members and Firms
are therefore advised that they should take utmost care to ensure full
compliance with instructions while filling up the form. It may please be
noted that non-adherence to instructions will result in rejection of the
application. 5.
Members may please note
that mere submission of the application form to the Institute does not ensure
that the name of the applicant will be placed on the panel. On successful completion
and if form is correct in all respects, the applicant member’s/firm’s name
will be included in the panel. The
Institute has only undertaken to collect the application forms, process and
compile the data and forward the same to the appropriate authorities for
their consideration. The Institute does not undertake any responsibility with
regard to the allotment of audit or other assignments to any of the
applicants. The Institute reserves the right to use the information received
from members for any purpose in the interest of the profession, in addition
to submitting the same to the appropriate authorities, which may be required
by any other authorities for other assignments. 6.
The allotment of audits
would be done by the authorities on the basis of multiple criterions which
are confidential, and the Institute, as a policy, does not interfere in the
allotment of the assignments. Members are advised not to correspond directly
with the authorities on matters related to empanelment. They may however correspond
with the Institute on the panel itself. SECTION A INSTRUCTIONS FOR
FILLING-UP THE FORM OFFLINE AND SUBMITTING THE
APPLICATION I. Instructions for filling up the Multipurpose Empanelment
Form : 1. Multipurpose Empanelment Forms are designed
differently each in the case of individual, sole proprietorship concern and
partnership concerns. Therefore, the applicant should select his option
carefully. 2. On
the homepage of the website www.meficai.org, click on the bottom-right hand
corner of the screen “DOWNLOAD MULTIPURPOSE EMPANELMENT FORM (MEF) FOR THE
YEAR 2008-09” for downloading the Form. Then select whether you wish to apply
for empanelment as an individual/firm and click on the “Next” button. 3. a. Membership number (in case of
member practising in individual name). Membership
No. should be of 6 digits. If
required, prefix `0' [Zero(es)],
e.g. for Membership No. `12345', please fill-up `012345' and for Membership
No. ‘1234’, please fill-up ‘001234’ or Firm registration no.
(in case of partnership firm/sole proprietary
concern). Firm registration no. should
be of 7 digits (six numerals and one alphabetical suffix). If required, prefix `0' [Zero(es)], e.g. for firm registration no. `12345N', please
fill-up `012345N' and for Firm registration no. ‘1234N’, please fill-up
‘001234N’ b.
Submit the details filled in for online verification
by clicking on “Submit” button. c.
If
the details filled in by the applicant match with the ICAI records, a message
with an icon will now appear saying ‘Download MEF for 2008-09’. Click on the
icon. Computer will then ask you to save the program and specify where you
want to save it. Members may find it convenient to save it on desktop. If the data does not match with ICAI
records, the applicant may refill the data.
In case of difficulty, applicants are advised to send an email to mefpdc@icai.org and also get in touch with
the concerned decentralized office for verification of applicant data. 4.
a. Now,
select your reply to the question “Do you applied for the Multipurpose Panel
for the year 2007-08?” b. Password
should be of minimum 8 characters (please note that it is a case sensitive field)
and then, reconfirm the same in the next field. This password will be
required at the time of online submission of the application Form. c. Members/firms
who were included in Multipurpose Panel for last year i.e. 2007-08, can
download the application form containing their data as appearing in last
year’s Multipurpose Panel. After saving the downloaded application form on
their machines, preferably on desktop, applicant can make changes/ additions/
deletions in the same as they had done last year. Further, members/firms,
which did not apply last year, should fill in the complete form this year. d. After filling all the fields, save
the data by clicking on the 'Save’ button. e.
Application No. series for the
year 2007-08 would be continued so that last year’s applicants would be
receiving same application no. 5.
Please download and go through
the Technical Manual for installation and
usage of the MEF before opening the form. 6. Applicant must ensure that all the
columns in the Application Form are filled in properly.
7. In
case of member applying as a sole proprietorship concern, details pertaining
to both; year since when continuously holding certificate of practice and
year of establishment of the firm; will appear and member would have option
to select one of them, which is to be considered for the panel. The said
option is available only for MEF and is not available to member generally as
a matter of right. 8. The Unique Code Number (if available
in the ICAI records) is displayed. In
other cases, “Not Allotted” is displayed and the number will be generated at
the time of preparation of the Panel.
An email communication of the same will be sent on generation of the
Unique Code Number.
9. The constitution details of the firms/ individuals as of 01.01.2008 is to be given in the MEF. 10. a.
All the information being
sourced from Institute’s database is static (not editable) and any difference
with the same should be informed by the member through the column of
memorandum of changes. Member will be required to fill Memorandum of Changes
in case he does not agree with any of the data reflecting in the form from
institute’s database. b. Fields which
would be sourced from the Institute’s Database are not editable (i.e. Static)
will be appearing with yellow background. Applicants will not allowed to make any changes in these fields. Applicants who do not agree with the details appearing in
these fields, should fill in the Memorandum of Changes. 11. Boxes/icons have been provided in the Form
and Annexures. Please click/fill-up the appropriate
box/icon. Where there is no box/icon, please furnish the details required
under relevant entry in the Form.
12. All correspondence and acknowledgement/discrepancy
letters etc., will be through e-mail only. Please fill up e-mail id and an alternative
e-mail id CORRECTLY. Snail mail will not be accepted or resorted to unless there is a major
issue that requires hard copy confirmation. Members are requested to
ensure that their e-mail addresses are live and working.
13. Fill up the application Form
(including Annexures) and after filling information
for all branches/employees/partners etc., as the case may be, click on the 'save’ button on the
respective screen. 14. The
data filled by the applicant therein can be edited/modified any number of
times till electronic submission of the Form. 15. Fill
in the 'declaration' Form. In the signature field, provide the initials
of the respective Partner/Proprietor/Applicant for the soft submission of the
Form (e.g. `RKG’ in case of `Ram Kumar Gupta’ etc). 16. Electronic
Submission of Application Form a.
Ensure that all entries are correct and
complete. Establish internet connection, open the filled up Form and click
'Upload MEF to PDC website’ button. Application No. will come automatically
therefore, please fill in the password. Program will display an icon ‘Login’.
Click on the icon and the Form will be submitted. Once the application is
submitted, it will not be possible to edit/change information filled in the
application. b.
In case there is any difference between
the Institute’s Database and the data being submitted by the
applicant, the applicant can send an explanation (for such a mismatch)
thereto alongwith the declaration and
correspondence with the Institute in this regard, if any. Example, in case of
retirement of a partner after 1st January, 2008, the status as on
1st January, 2008 is required to be filled-up in the application.
However, a mention may be made in the ‘Declaration’, while sending the hard
copy of the same duly signed by balance partners, that the signature of the
retired partner (giving name and membership no.) could not be obtained due to
his retirement after 1st January, 2008. c. The applicant firms/members should
note that attempts to make multiple submissions would be automatically
rejected by the system. Since the Form will be available for filling up
offline, it will be presumed that members/firms would have crosschecked their
own data and particulars carefully before submission. Everyone who submits
the Application for empanelment may or may not receive an acknowledgement by
e-mail. In case acknowledgement e-mail is not received within 24 hours of
submission of the application Form, the same should be downloaded from the
site www.meficai.org II. General
1
All applicants must ensure that all the columns in
the application form are filled in properly. 2
NO COLUMN IS TO BE LEFT BLANK. In case no information
is to be provided, indicate `NIL' against that column. 3
While mentioning the `Concern name', do not use the
prefix M/s, Mr., Mrs. etc. Further instructions are given in Sections B and C respectively.
SECTION B SUBMISSION
OF DOCUMENTS AFTER ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION FORM
1 A hard copy of the
Declaration duly signed by all partners/ proprietor/ member practicing in
individual name accompanied by a print of the e-mail acknowledging submission
of application Form (which will be automatically e-mailed to the applicant
after the Form as submitted is accepted by the system) must be sent to ICAI by courier/speed post/hand delivery at
the following address in an envelope superscribed
with the words “DECLARATION FOR MEF
2008-09” so as to reach on or before 25th September, 2008. The Secretary Professional
Development Committee The ICAI Bhawan Indraprastha
Marg 2 Receipt
of hard copy of the Declaration at the ICAI’s 3 In the
cases taken up for scrutiny (selected randomly by the computer), Applicant
will be advised by email to submit relevant documents like Financial
statements, Income tax returns of the Concern and partners/proprietor/member
practicing in individual name, constitution certificate (only for partnership
and sole proprietor) as on 1.1.2008 and partnership deed (only for
partnership firms) etc. for detailed review. The PDC Secretariat, ICAI, FOR
FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS, PLEASE SEE SECTION C. OTHER
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Unique Code Number is
allotted to a member/firm when their application for the Bank Branches
Statutory Auditors’ Panel is accepted for the first time. It is not changed
normally unless the member/firm leaves the column blank in the form of
application for Bank branches statutory auditors’ empanelment. 2. The Members/Firms
MUST ensure that their unique code number (if allotted) appears in the MEF
form to facilitate correct and proper recording of data of past Bank Audit
experience etc. 3. a Incorrect Unique code numbers will
result in delinking of firms’ experience data, and
the Institute will not be responsible for the consequences thereof in any
way. B An old Unique Code Number can be
used where:
i.
A member practising in his individual
name earlier, forms a Sole Proprietorship concern, or A
ii.
Sole
Proprietorship concern takes a partner. However, empanelment with the same Unique Code number will
be done only if the MEF form contains the Unique Code Number allotted to the
applicant earlier: a.
As a member practising in
his/her individual name, who has now formed a Sole Proprietary Concern, or b.
As a Sole Proprietary concern, which
has now been reconstituted as a partnership firm. 4.
For the Bank Branch Auditors’ Panel, only partners/proprietor who are
associated exclusively with the applicant firm would be considered. 5. If a member is not a
partner in any partnership firm, the application may be made by the sole
proprietary firm or in his individual name if his main occupation is practice
of the profession. 6. If any firm has one or
more branches in addition to its head office, the application should be made
in the name of the head office only, giving particulars of branches including
foreign branches as required in the application. 7. Where the application is made by a
member practising in his individual name, `any
reference in the application form to `proprietor'/`concern' would be
construed as referring to such individual member and all the relevant details
should be furnished accordingly. 8. The word `Experience’
of partners/proprietor wherever it occurs in the application form, means the
total experience of the partner/proprietor in audit and also includes such
experience gained by him/her while associated with other concerns as partner
or proprietor or while practising as an individual.
In other words, such experience is not limited to that obtained during the
association of the partner/proprietor with the applicant concern only. It may
also be noted that experience in capacity as article/audit clerk/paid
assistant should not be mentioned. 9. While
every care is taken in preparing the panel, in the event of any inadvertent
mistake or omission, the Institute will not be responsible in any way. 10. Experience
of Statutory Central Audit of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd. has been reckoned
as public sector bank audit experience (and not that of public sector
undertaking as has been reckoned earlier) with effect from the year 2003-04
subject to certain conditions. Therefore, the members/firms may fill up the
above experience also at the relevant entries in the form. 11. A sole
proprietor/chartered accountant practising in his
individual name/firm of chartered accountants who is/are internal auditors
for the year or a part of the year during 2007-08 and/or 2008-09 of a bank
cannot be the statutory auditors of the same bank for 2008-09. This will
apply even where a partner of the firm (in his individual or some other
capacity) is internal auditor for the years 2007-08 and/or 2008-09 of that
Bank. Similar restrictions apply in
case of indebtedness (including outstanding on credit card)/guarantee given
and acceptance of position of Director on the Board of the same Bank from
01.01.2008 upto the date of submission of
application. 12. In case a Chartered Accountant/firm had
been appointed as Statutory Central/Branch Auditors of a Public Sector Bank
in the previous financial year, the concerned Chartered Accountant/firm or
any of its partners/proprietor is/are not supposed to do the following in
his/their own interest:- a.
Associate with the same Bank (of which
he/she/the firm is appointed as statutory auditor), as concurrent/internal/
income and expenditure or revenue auditor/stock auditor/auditor of borrowers
accounts. b.
Take a loan (including outstanding on
credit card) from/give a guarantee to a loan from the same Bank (of which
he/she/the firm is appointed as statutory auditor). c.
Accept the position of Director on the
Board of the same Bank (of which he/she/the firm is appointed as statutory
auditor). The above is
required to be taken care of by members/firms since the Reserve Bank of India
takes into cognizance the above information furnished by members/firms in the
form of application for empanelment only while allotting the statutory branch
audit of a bank to any member/firm for the first year. 13. If a firm has done audit
of two or more than two entities/Banks/Branches or Statutory Central as well
as branch audit of a Bank for the same year, then it should be counted as one
year’s experience only, while filling-up various entries in the form. 14. The Institute also
reserves the right to call for any further information or evidence in support of information, as may
be necessary from the applicant member(s)/firm concerned to verify the
correctness of the particulars furnished in the application form. 15. While sending any
e-mails, where the applicant enquires anything related to MEF form, he should
give his Firm’s Name, MEF Application Number and Firm Registration Number in
the mail so that his/her problems can be identified easily. 16. Contact details for
inquiries/information/facilitation (i) Postal
Address: The Secretary, ICAI Bhawan (ii) E-mail: mefpdc@icai.org (iii) Helpline nos.:
011-30110444, 30110547, 30110480, and 30110411 |