The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has opposed the tendering process of selecting accountants for auditing state-run schemes and has taken up the issue with the Planning Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). ICAI wants the appointment to be done through fixing the fees district-wise and not through tender, saying it may lead to compromise of audit work. The appointment of auditors for scanning government schemes and projects is proposed to be done through a tendering process, wherein the applicant quoting the lowest fees would get the project. However, according to ICAI, the appointment should rather be done through fixing the fees district-wise. “We had taken up the issue with CAG and the Planning Commission. We have requested that the L1 (lowest bidding) factor in audit can kill the entire concept of the audit,” ICAI said. “It is no good. We have requested them to fix the fees scheme-wise to ensure that if at all bids are there, they should be technical rather than financial,” ICAI President Amarjit Chopra said.
