Standards for Members of the Team Directly Inspecting the Quality of Audit Services

Standards for Members of the Audit Service Quality Inspection Team (illustrative photo)

Article 16 Circular 157/2014/TT-BTC stipulates that members of the Inspection Team (excluding officials from the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission) must meet the following standards:

- Possess an auditor's certificate and have at least 36 months of actual auditing practice experience or have 3 years of experience participating in the Audit Service Quality Inspection Team since obtaining the auditor's certificate up to the time of forming the Inspection Team. The audit firm appointing practicing auditors to participate in the Inspection Team must have audit service quality inspection results meeting the requirements or higher in the most recent inspection;- Have knowledge of professional standards, laws, and relevant regulations applicable to the type of service being inspected and have practical experience in fields related to the service contracts they inspect;- Possess professional ethics, independence, honesty, objectivity, and a high sense of responsibility;- Have completed a training course on inspection processes, procedures, and practices organized by the inspection agency, with mandatory training hours being 16 hours for first-time Inspection Team members and 8 hours for experienced members who have participated in inspection teams in previous years. The training hours are counted towards the annual mandatory knowledge update hours for practicing auditors;- Not be subject to administrative sanctions in the field of accounting, independent auditing, securities, or disciplinary action by the Professional Organization for Auditing within the last 3 years up to the time of forming the Inspection Team.

Note: In cases of inspecting audit firms approved to audit entities with public interest, members participating in the Inspection Team must be individuals who are or have been members of the audit firm's management board responsible for overall service contracts or individuals with equivalent qualifications, with at least 24 months of actual auditing or audit quality review experience for public interest entities since being approved by competent authorities to audit public interest entities up to the time of forming the Inspection Team.

Details can be found in Circular 157/2014/TT-BTC effective from October 23, 2014.

Ty Na

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