Singapore legislation
Regulation 6A
Regulation 6A
Audit principal
Subregulation 1
Subject to paragraphs (2E) and (3), in these Rules, an audit principal, for a pupil, is any of the following persons, being neither a parent, adoptive parent, sibling, spouse nor child of the pupil, who consents to be an audit principal of the pupil:
a public accountant who satisfies —
all of the conditions set out in paragraph (2); and
such other conditions as the Oversight Committee may impose in any particular case; (b)the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, or any senior officer of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore designated by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue and who fulfils the specified criteria; (c)the Accountant-General, or any senior officer of the Accountant-General’s Department designated by the Accountant-General and who fulfils the specified criteria; (d)the Auditor-General, or any senior officer of the Auditor-General’s Office designated by the Auditor-General and who fulfils the specified criteria;
the Registrar of Public Accountants, or any senior officer of the Authority designated by the Registrar and who fulfils the specified criteria;
the Registrar of Companies, or any senior officer of the Authority designated by the Registrar of Companies and who fulfils the specified criteria;
the chief executive of any professional accountancy body or organisation in Singapore, or any senior officer of any professional accountancy body or organisation in Singapore designated by its chief executive and who fulfils the specified criteria.
Subregulation 2
The conditions referred to in paragraph (1)(a)(i) are as follows: (a)the public accountant must have at least 5 years’ experience in public practice; (b)the public accountant must not be subject to any of the following orders:
an order imposed by the Oversight Committee under section 52(2)(g) of the Act prohibiting the public accountant from being an audit principal; (ii)a hot review order;
a restriction order; (iv)a suspension order.
Subregulation 2A
For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), but subject to paragraphs (2C) and (2D), “experience in public practice” includes experience in foreign audit practice (called in these Rules foreign public practice experience).
Subregulation 2B
For the purposes of paragraph (2A), “foreign public practice experience” means practical experience acquired by a foreign auditor in the course of auditing any financial statements in a foreign audit entity.
Subregulation 2C
Any period of foreign public practice experience only qualifies as experience in public practice if —
the country or territory in which the foreign audit entity mentioned in paragraph (2B) is licensed or registered adheres to auditing standards which the Oversight Committee considers to be equivalent to the standards applicable in Singapore; and
the Oversight Committee is satisfied with the quality of the foreign public practice experience having regard to one or more of the following:
whether the foreign audit entity mentioned in paragraph (2B) has implemented, or has taken steps to implement, quality controls in accordance with standards which the Oversight Committee considers to be equivalent to the prescribed quality control standards applicable in Singapore;
whether the foreign audit entity or the foreign auditor mentioned in paragraph (2B) has been subject to any audit inspection carried out by or on behalf of the regulator of the audit profession in the country or territory in which the foreign audit entity or the foreign auditor is licensed or registered, and whether that regulator is satisfied with the findings or results of such audit inspection;
whether the Oversight Committee is of the opinion that the foreign audit entity mentioned in paragraph (2B) is of good standing in the country or territory of its licensing or registration;
any other factor that the Oversight Committee considers to be relevant.
Subregulation 2D
Foreign public practice experience does not include any period during which the foreign auditor’s licence or registration to audit financial statements in a country or territory outside Singapore has been withdrawn, suspended, cancelled or revoked.
Subregulation 2E
A public accountant must not be or must cease to be (as the case may be) an audit principal if —
the public accountant has undergone a practice review and the Oversight Committee has determined that —
the public accountant’s compliance with any of the professional standards is partially satisfactory under the Oversight Committee’s professional standards assessment framework; or
the public accountant’s compliance with any of the professional standards is not satisfactory under the Oversight Committee’s professional standards assessment framework; and
the Oversight Committee has notified the public accountant in writing that the public accountant must not be or must cease to be an audit principal for the period specified in the notification.
Subregulation 3
If any of the circumstances set out in the first column of the following table apply to an audit principal when the audit principal is directly supervising or undertaking the overall oversight of a pupil, then the audit principal only ceases to be an audit principal with effect from the date set out opposite those circumstances in the second column of the table:First column Second columnCircumstances Effective date of cessation1.The audit principal is subject to an order referred to in paragraph (2)(b)(i), (iii) or (iv) The date of the order2.The audit principal is subject to a hot review order and does not apply to the Oversight Committee for consent under rule 6B The date immediately after the period of 30 days referred to in rule 6B(1) expires3.The audit principal is subject to a hot review order and applies to the Oversight Committee for consent under rule 6B The date on which the Oversight Committee informs the audit principal of its refusal under rule 6B4.The audit principal is notified in writing that the audit principal must not be or must cease to be an audit principal under paragraph (2E) The date on which the notification takes effect
Subregulation 4
Upon a public accountant ceasing to be an audit principal under paragraph (3), the public accountant must inform the public accountant’s pupil or pupils of this fact.
Subregulation 5
In this rule, “specified criteria” means any criteria specified by the Oversight Committee relating to any of the following:
any experience in performing any function which the Oversight Committee determines to be equivalent to any key audit function;
any experience which the Oversight Committee determines to be equivalent to qualifying audit experience.