MEF 2022-23: Final Bank/ Branch Auditors Panel

2023-01-31 Profession

ICAI has informed that the final Bank Branch Auditors’ Panel of CAs/ CA Firms for the year 2022-23 (MEF 2022-23) has been hosted at MEFICAI website, along with reasoning for change in the category of applicant firms/ chartered accountants, wherever applicable.

This panel is subject to verification of Financial Documents of the applicants for allocated category. If there are any further changes post verification of the documents, the ICAI will separately communicate with the concerned applicants.

In case of any observations/ complaints about the final Bank/ Branch Auditors’ panel hosted by ICAI, the applicants may raise a query with details of the issue at  complaint module of the MEFICAI website, which will be suitably responded in due course.

After suitable redressal of the issues/queries of the applicants, the ICAI will send the final Bank/Branch Auditors panel for the financial year 2022-23 to RBI for their consideration.

MEF 2022-23: Draft Bank/ Branch Auditors Panel

The ICAI has announced that the Draft Bank Branch Auditors’ Panel (MEF) of CAs/Firms for the fiscal year 2022-23 has been posted on the MEFICAI website for review by the concerned applicants (CAs/Firms) by January 6, 2023.

For the purpose of receiving any complaints, the Draft Bank/Branch Auditors Panel 2022-23 will be available until the 6th of January, 2023. Following the completion of the appropriate responses to the questions, the final panel will be delivered to RBI for their consideration, as per MEFICAI website update.

The ICAI has informed that the Draft Panel as well as the category of the applicants for MEF 2022-23 is subject to verification of the Financial Documents of the applicant CAs/Firms. If there are any changes or inconsistencies, they will be communicated to the applicant CAs or firms separately. In addition to this, the applicants would be able to view, within the Draft Panel itself, the rationale behind any changes that were made to their category (where applicable). However, in the event that any applicants have any observations or complaints, they can post their questions along with relevant details on the MEFICAI website, where they will be addressed and responded to individually.

Earlier, the ICAI has hosted MEF for FY 2022–23 on the MEFICAI website. CA Firms interested in requesting a Bank/Branch Audit assignment have submitted their MEF 2022–23 online. Last date for submission of MEF 2022-23 was further extended by ICAI from 09/11/2022 to 15/11/2022, vide Announcement dt. 10/11/2022.

MEF 2022-23: Bank/ Branch Auditor’s Panel of CA Firms

ICAI Announcement dt. 06/10/2022: Hosting of Multipurpose Empanelment Form (MEF) for FY 2022-23

Professional Development Committee (PDC) is pleased to host the Multipurpose Empanelment Form (MEF) for the year 2022-23, which is hosted at http://www.meficai.org. Before filling the MEF, members are advised to go through the Advisory.

Registration/ Login Credentials

Existing Applicants: Applicants of MEF 2022-23 can login with MEF 2021-22 credentials. If you have forgotten the password, go to “Forgot Password” button to retrieve the password.

New Applicants: Registration will be required for applicants who have not filed the MEF 2021-22. It can be done using:-

i) FRN & Date of Establishment if Applicant is a Partnership Firm/LLP/ Proprietary Concern

ii) MRN & Date of Birth if Applicant is applying as an Individual.

Last date for submission of online Form is 28/10/2022.

Professional Development Committee, ICAI

Bank/ Branch Auditor’s Panel of CA Firms: MEFICAI Advisory for MEF 2022-23 (dt. 06/10/2022)

1. ELIGIBILITY FOR FILING MEF

  1. Partnership/ LLP Firms which are in existence as on 01/01/2022.
  2. Proprietary Firms which are in existence as on 01/01/2022.
  3. Member holding Full-time Certificate of Practice as on 01/01/2022 and practising in individual name.

2. PROCEDURE OF FILING MEF

  1. Green Fields are non-editable fields which exhibit the data related to Firms/ Members/ Partners/ Paid Employees which are fetched from the SSP of ICAI.
  2. White Fields are editable fields which exhibit the data from the last year’s MEF which are to be updated by the Applicants as per the actuals.
  3. Any change in the data in Green field will be considered in MEF only if the same is reflected in SSP of ICAI. Applicants may indicate such change in Grey colour fields in MEF for information purpose.
  4. MEF provides the facility of page-wise saving and is editable any number of times before submission, but once submitted, cannot be edited.

3. IMPORTANT PARAMETERS OF CREDIT SCALING IN MEF

  1. The Applicant will get the credit of the partner/ proprietor only if she/ he is exclusively associated with the Applicant from 01/01/2022 to the date of second verification. The date of second verification is the date of verification of MEF data with SSP of ICAI, which is normally in the month of November.
  2. The Applicant applying in individual capacity will get the credit only if she/ he is exclusively associated from 01/01/2022 to the date of second verification. Out of the Multiple firms with Common Partners, only one firm can apply for Bank Branch Auditors’ (BBA) Panel. In case both/ all the firms apply, the MEF of all these firms will be rejected for Bank Branch Auditors panel.
  3. In case, the firms are having common partner(s)/ proprietor(s) as on 01/01/2022 and only one firm applies then the same will be eligible but the credit of common partner(s)/ proprietor(s) shall not be given.
  4. The details of the common partner(s) and their association with other firms, and/ or practising in Individual name/ Sole practice will be reflected after logging in the MEF.
  5. Members associated with more than one entity as indicated below even for any one day from 01/01/2022 to the date of second verification will not be treated as exclusively associated with the Applicant:
    1. Member is not holding full time CoP
    2. Proprietor/ Partner is also having Sole Practice (Individual)
    3. Proprietor having more than one Proprietary Concern
    4. Partner/ Proprietor/ Sole Practitioner is in employment
    5. Proprietor/ Partner is also partner in any other concern

4. UNIQUE CODE NUMBER (UCN) 

  1. UCN will be allotted to all first-time eligible Applicants for Bank Branch Auditor’s panel.
  2. The Applicants who are not eligible for Bank Branch Auditor’s panel will also be allotted UCN, if any of the partners/ proprietor/ Member practising in individual name is exclusively associated with Applicant as on 01/01/2022 to the date of second verification.
  3. Any Member who has been allotted UCN while practicing in individual name should continue to use the same UCN even on forming proprietary firm.

5. EXPERIENCE OF BANK AUDIT

  1. Experience of Bank Audit as Statutory Auditor of a Branch of a Public Sector Bank or of a Private Sector Bank with deposit of not less than Rs. 500 Crore of the Bank as a whole (and not that of a Branch) is to be mentioned. (The experience of Statutory Central Audit of J & K Bank will also be reckoned as Public Sector Bank Audit experience.)
  2. If applicant has audited both Public Sector Banks and Private Sector Banks in the same year, then experience will be counted as 1 year only.
  3. Member will be considered to have such experience only if he/she has signed the Audit Report/ conducted the Audit.
  4. The experience gained in the capacity of Articled/ Audit Assistant or paid employee/ assistant is not to be included while mentioning the audit experience in MEF.

6. SUBMISSION OF DECLARATION

  1. The Declaration for the MEF is to be validated with One Time Password (OTP).
  2. OTP will be sent to the Email-id and Mobile Number as registered in SSP of ICAI. Any modification required in email or mobile number, has to be done in SSP and will be reflected in MEF on real time basis.
  3. The Declaration will be valid only if OTP is validated by all the partners/ proprietor/ Member practicing in individual name. In case, the OTP is not validated by any partner/(s), the applicant may mention the reason thereof. However, the credit of such partner will not be given to the applicant.
  4. OTP of the partner who retires between 01/01/2022 and the date of submission of MEF is not required if it is updated in SSP database.
  5. It is desirable that the draft MEF before submission should be shared with all the partners internally for their perusal so that they are able to validate the declaration through OTP.

7. SUBMISSION OF FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

The Financial Documents are to be submitted by all the Applicants of MEF (Firm and continuing Partners), failing which the application cannot be submitted. The Applicants are required to upload the financial documents before the submission of MEF by clicking on the icon. The following Financial Documents for Financial Year 2020 -2021 are to be submitted:

A. Partnership Firms:

For Firms:

    1. Complete Income Tax Return in JSON format
    2. Income Tax Return Acknowledgement
    3. Statement of Computation of Total Income of the Firm
    4. Balance Sheet as on 31/03/2021 along with Schedules
    5. Income & Expenditure Account for the financial year 2020-21 along with Schedules.

For Partners:

    1. Complete Income Tax Return in JSON format
    2. Income Tax Return Acknowledgement
    3. Statement of Computation of Total Income of the Partner

B. Sole Proprietor/ Individual practicing in individual name:

  1. Complete Income Tax Return in JSON format
  2. Income Tax Return Acknowledgement Statement of Computation of Total Income of the Member
  3. Balance Sheet as at 31/03/2021 along with Schedules
  4. Income & Expenditure Account for the financial year 2020-21 along with Schedules

Applicants who have opted for Presumptive Taxation scheme under Section 44ADA of Income Tax Act, 1961 and have filed their ITR accordingly for the financial year 2020 -2021 shall select the respective tab in Financial Documents page. Such Applicants need not submit Balance Sheets and Income & Expenditure Account.

All the Financial Information shall be filled in absolute numbers only e.g. Gross Professional Receipts of the Firm is 2 Lakhs 56 thousand 2 hundred 56 rupees shall be mentioned 2,56,256 and not as 2.56 lakhs.

8. FINAL PREPARATION OF PANEL FOR BANK AUDIT

  1. The credit for only the continuing partners from 01/01/2022 to the date of second verification will be given.
  2. In case any of the Partner(s) retires/ leaves between 01/01/2022 and the date of second verification the credit will not be given for such Partner(s).
  3. The credit will not be given for those Partners who have joined after 01/01/2022, even through merger. However, credit for those partners will be given next year, if continuing in the same firm.
  4. In case of any paid Chartered Accountant Employee resigns between 01/01/2022 and the date of second verification and another paid Chartered Accountant Employee joins during the same period, credit will be given to such paid Chartered Accountant Employee.
  5. In case, the Firm is closed/ merged between 01/01/2022 and the date of second verification, the name of such firm will not be included in the Panel.
  6. In case, the COP status of an individual applicant changes from full-time to part-time/ no COP from 01/01/2022 to the date of second verification, such applicant will not be included in the Panel.

9. COMPLAINT FILING MECHANISM

  1. For any clarification/ query/ complaint regarding MEF 2022-23, please lodge the same under the tab “MEF Complaint Entry” available at meficai.org for quick resolution.
  2. Query/ complaint can be lodged by using MRN/ FRN by the Applicant and on successful lodging, a Complaint number will be generated which can be used for future references.
  3. Applicant can view the status of complaints by using MRN/ FRN. In case, the complaint is not resolved within 5 working days, Applicant can write at [email protected] mentioning the complaint Number or call on the following numbers between 2 PM to 5 PM on all working days by quoting Complaint Number:
    1. Ms. Priya Duggal 9205559866; 011-30110444
    2. Mr. Manish Bhardwaj 9205559865; 011-30110440
    3. Ms. Ekta 9205559867; 011-30110526

10. OTHERS

  1. PDC hosts draft MEF Panel generally in the month of November/ December so that the applicants can verify.
  2. The Institute reserves right to call for additional information/ documents from the Applicant as may be considered appropriate.
  3. While all efforts are being taken in preparing the panel, in the event of any inadvertent mistake or omission, the Institute will not be responsible in any manner.
  4. The Institute does not undertake any responsibility with regard to the allotment of audit.
  5. Any modification will be accepted in MEF records only as per MEF/RBI Norms at the time of preparation of the Panel.
  6. Members are advised not to correspond directly with the authorities concerned like RBI, NABARD, etc. on matters related to empanelment.

ICAI’s FAQs on MEF 2022-23

MEFICAI has issued a set of 80 FAQs on MEF 2022-23 to explain/ clarify various issues relating to eligibility, login, submission of application for empanelment, subsequent procedures, etc.

ICAI’s FAQs on MEF 2022-23 (Updated 20/10/2022)

Related Posts:

ICAI’s Guidance Note on Bank Audit (2022 Edition)

Revised RBI Norms for determination of Firm Category for Allocation of Bank Branch Audit from 2020-21 onwards 

RBI Norms for Appointment of Bank CSA from 2017-18 onwards

Statutory Bank/ Branch Audit Fee Structure as per RBI

ICAI’s Advisory for Allocation of Work among Joint Auditors of Banks

RBI List of Central Auditors (CSAs) for 12 PSU Banks: FY 2022-23

RBI-Approved List of Audit Firms for Private Banks: FY 2022-23

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