PM-CARES TO BE AUDITED BY INDEPENDENT AUDITORS

BY SUSHMA GOWDA

INTRODUCTION

An independent auditor is a certified public accountant (CPA) or chartered accountant (CA) who examines the financial records and business transactions of a company with which he is not affiliated. An independent auditor is typically used to avoid conflicts of interest and to ensure the integrity of performing an audit.

An independent auditor either works for a public accounting firm or is self-employed. An auditor examines financial statements and related data. They evaluate company assets for impairment and proper valuation and determine tax liability, ensuring compliance with tax code and laws.

PROCEDURE FOR AN INDEPENDENT AUDIT

An independent auditor asks questions of management and staff for a better understanding of the business, its operations, financial reporting, internal control system, and known fraud or error.

Company managers can use the results of an independent audit to improve company processes.

PM-CARES TO BE AUDITED BY INDEPENDENT AUDITORS

The PM-CARES fund will be audited by an independent qualified set of auditors appointed by its trustees, including the prime minister, and the new fund has been opened up for donations from abroad after it was exempted from the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). Donors will be able to download donation receipts directly from the PM-CARES portal itself, ET has learned.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanded that all the PM CARES Fund should be transferred to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to “ensure efficiency, transparency, accountability and audit” and termed it a “waste of effort and resources” to create two separate silos for distribution of funds. Her demand will not be accepted.

Senior government officials said the issue raised by most Congress CMs is an outcome of a law (Companies Act) passed by the UPA Government in July 2013, under which funds set up by the state government were omitted from the list of ‘eligible funds’ which could receive CSR donations.

Government official said “The controversy around CM relief funds not being eligible for CSR is hence a result of incomplete knowledge of the law and facts around it”

The law passed in 2013 specified that “eligible funds” for CSR included only the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund (PMRF) and any other fund set up by the Central government for purposes stated therein, the official added.

However, officials said the contribution of funds to the state disaster management authority for combating Covid-19 shall be counted as CSR expenditure and hence companies can make CSR contributions to any state government for fighting Covid-19 through the ‘disaster management authority route.

government officials said “The Corporate Affairs Ministry on March 23 clarified that Covid-19 activities relating to promotion of healthcare, preventive healthcare and sanitation, and disaster management shall qualify as CSR expenditure”

Separately, the government has stipulated that the PM-CARES fund will be audited by one or more qualified independent auditors who will be appointed by the Trustees. PM-CARES Fund has also received exemptions from operation of all provisions of the FCRA Act and can now accept donations from individuals and organisations based in foreign countries through foreign credit/debit cards and through wire transfer/SWIFT. A separate bank account