ICAI to flag concerns about Byju’s financials
NEW DELHI : The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the accounting rule maker and self-regulator of auditors, is likely to flag concerns about the preparation of financial statements by Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd, which runs the Byju’s online tutoring platform, to the ministry of corporate affairs after a review of its FY20 and FY21 accounts, two people aware of the development said.
Separately, a disciplinary committee of ICAI is expected to issue notice to Deloitte Haskins & Sells’ audit partner, who signed off on these financial statements for allegedly not having done enough regarding alleged weaknesses in the accounts, one of the people said. ICAI’s concerns around the financial statements come in the context of “multiple issues" noticed during scrutiny of the financial statements by its Financial Reporting Review Board (FRRB).
ICAI’s key concern is that Byju’s has recognized revenue from its principal business—the sale of educational tablets and SD cards and streaming of content, the person cited above said on condition of anonymity. ICAI is contemplating approaching the ministry of corporate affairs because the audit regulator’s jurisdiction is limited to the professional who signed off on the financial statements and did not cover the management, which prepares these documents, the person explained.
Emails sent to spokespeople for Byju’s, Deloitte and ICAI on Sunday seeking comments for the story remained unanswered. The regulatory documents filed by Byju’s show that the auditor did not make any adverse remarks in their report for FY20.
But that changed in the audit report for the subsequent fiscal year. The auditor highlighted alleged material weakness in the company’s internal financial controls,
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