Contrary to which is being erroneously alleged in some sections of the media, at no time did the Quality Assurance Unit within the Ministry for Finance, which is responsible for carrying out inspections on auditors and audit firms, ceased its operations. Neither was it ever left unconstituted for one reason or other.

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY FOR FINANCE

The Accountancy Board on the other hand, had to be re-constituted following the enactment last February of amendments to the Accountancy Profession Act Cap 281. This was required to bring into force the relevant provisions of the new EU Directive on statutory Audits.

This change required that the Accountancy Board be made up solely of non-practitioners to ensure the independence of the Accountancy Board from the audit profession.

A new Accountancy Board was in fact set up soon after all the statutory nominations from a number of institutions were received by the Ministry for Finance.

Tuesday 26th April 2016