NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday said it is committed to further strengthening the functioning of National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA). NFRA is an independent regulator for the auditing profession under Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Speaking at an event organised by NFRA as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) celebrations, Ministry of Corporate Affairs Secretary Rajesh Verma said,"We need to see what more needs to be done to strengthen NFRA to enable it to discharge its duties effectively" as well as strengthen the mandates of protecting the public interests.
"The government is continuously focused on further strengthening NFRA and in the process we are also looking into the recommendations of the Company Law Committee with regard to financial and operational autonomy of NFRA," he added.
He also traced the evolution of NFRA, which came into existence in October 2018.
Further, he said that NFRA is required to protect public interest and the interests of investors, creditors and others associated with the companies by establishing high quality standards of accounting and auditing and exercising effective oversight of accounting functions performed by companies and auditing functions performed by auditors.
Meanwhile, NFRA Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey stressed on the need of exploiting technology and data to bring in efficiency at the independent regulatory body. According to him, over 6,800 companies come under NFRA purview, which include listed as well as unlisted companies.
MoS Corporate Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh also spoke about the importance of self regulation. Besides, winners of an all-India level quiz conducted by NFRA in December-January 2022 were felicitated by the Union Minister.
The event saw participation from experts in regulation of audit and accounting standards from domestic and international arena. An expert from Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board, Japan also shared views on audit quality and financial reporting.
As a part of AKAM celebrations, NFRA had organised a two-day webinar in October 2021 to promote the understanding and awareness of Auditing and Accounting Standards among the stakeholders and citizens of the country.