ICAI launches AQMM 2.0 to elevate audit standards for listed entities, banks, and insurance firms
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has approved the second version of its Audit Quality Maturity Model (AQMM), which would be mandatory for audit firms engaged with specific public interest entities.
India is said to stand unique in introducing a self-evaluation model for audit quality maturity, with approximately 96,000 audit firms nationwide, most of which are proprietorships. Recent corporate fraud incidents have underscored the need for improved audit quality and the role of statutory auditors in detecting corporate malpractices. The applicability criteria for AQMM v 2.0 remain unchanged from its predecessor.
The initial version, AQMM v 1.0 introduced in 2021, has been mandatory since 1 April 2023 for the same set of firms. However, firms conducting only branch audits are exempt from this requirement.
