Peer Review Services — audit quality, independently affirmed.

Peer Review Certificate is mandatory for CA firms auditing listed entities (SEBI requirement), banks, NBFCs, insurance companies, public sector undertakings, and other prescribed categories. The applicability is being progressively expanded under the revised Statement on Peer Review issued by ICAI, eventually covering most firms in audit practice. Firms aspiring to take up listed company audits must hold a valid certificate before accepting the engagement.

A Peer Review Certificate issued by the ICAI Peer Review Board is typically valid for a period of five years from the date of issue. The firm must apply for renewal before expiry, and the next review covers engagements undertaken during the validity period. Late renewal can result in suspension of eligibility to audit listed and other prescribed entities.

The reviewer evaluates the firm's quality control framework under SQC 1 — independence, ethical compliance, client acceptance procedures, human resources policies, engagement performance, monitoring, and documentation. At the engagement level, the reviewer samples audit files and tests compliance with the Standards on Auditing, including risk assessment, evidence gathering, supervision, review, and conclusion documentation under SA 220.

SQC 1 (Standard on Quality Control 1) deals with the quality control framework at the firm level — covering policies, procedures, leadership responsibility, independence, and monitoring across all engagements. SA 220 (Standard on Auditing 220) deals with quality control at the engagement level — the responsibilities of the engagement partner and team in performing a specific audit. Peer Review examines both — the firm-level system and a sample of engagements run within it.

The on-site or remote review by the empanelled Peer Reviewer typically takes 3 to 7 working days depending on the firm's size, number of partners, and scope of audit practice. Pre-review preparation — building the QC manual, organising audit files, completing engagement-level checklists, and remediating documentation gaps — generally takes 4 to 12 weeks. Our pre-review health check engagements are scoped to fit this timeline.

If the reviewer identifies significant deficiencies, the firm is given an opportunity to take corrective action and submit responses to the Peer Review Board. Minor observations are typically addressed through committed remediation plans. Serious or repeated non-compliance can result in deferral of certificate issuance, additional follow-up reviews, or in extreme cases, disciplinary referral. Most issues identified are documentation-driven and remediable with focused effort.

Preparation involves three streams of work: building or refreshing the firm-level Quality Control Manual under SQC 1, ensuring engagement files reflect SA-compliant documentation (risk assessment, planning, evidence, review notes, partner sign-off), and conducting a mock review or health check before the actual peer review. Most firms benefit from an independent pre-review assessment that surfaces gaps while there is still time to fix them.