Financial Reporting Council (FRC) fined 26 chartered accountants Tk38.1 lakh for audit breaches, its first large enforcement drive targeting backdated reports and unauthorised audits.
The regulator collected the full amount, with penalties ranging from Tk10,000 to Tk6.5 lakh based on the severity of violations.
The action focused on two offences—signing audit reports with backdated dates and conducting audits without prior FRC approval for public interest entities.
Cases involving less than one year were excluded due to the absence of earlier guidelines, officials said.
A stricter interpretation could have increased the number of penalised auditors, they added.
“Audit responsibility is shared across the company, its accounts department, and the external auditor,” said FRC Chairman Sajjad Hossain Bhuiyan.
“Accountability may apply to all three if irregularities are found,” he added.
Enforcement action has also been taken against companies, though some have yet to settle dues, creating uneven compliance levels.
Huda Hossain & Co auditor Md Aminul Islam received the highest fine of Tk6.5 lakh for conducting audits without FRC approval.
Mahfel Huq & Co auditor Miah Fazle Karim was fined Tk4 lakh for the same breach.
KSR & Co auditor Kazi Saifur Rahman and Rahman Mostafa Alam & Co auditor Fatema Khatun were fined Tk3.5 lakh each.
S Islam & Co auditor Shahajul Islam and Kazi Zahir Khan & Co auditor Md Emran Hossain were fined Tk2 lakh each.
Others, including Nurul Huda Monsuri, Miah Mohammad Shahidullah, Mohammad Shariful Islam, and Abdul Haque, were fined Tk1 lakh each, while several received Tk50,000 penalties.
A separate group of 11 auditors was fined Tk10,000 each for backdating audit report signatures.
Alongside the penalties, FRC introduced the “Backdated Audit Report Signing Prevention Policy, 2026,” tightening compliance rules.
The policy requires financial statements and audit reports to be approved and signed on the same date.
Auditors must obtain a Document Verification Code (DVC) from Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) within five days, with a maximum limit of 20 days.
Failure to meet the deadline will be treated as evidence of backdating, the regulator said.
