A move towards mandatory audit firm rotation has taken a step forward in India, after the country's upper house, the Rajya Sabha, voted through the long awaited Companies Bill.
As well as bringing in every 10 year mandatory rotation, the Bill will require companies to spend at least 2% of profits on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), enforce a uniform accounting year end of 31 March for all companies, and will also create a quasi-judicial body, the National Financial Reporting
Additionally, the Bill will also make audit firms and partners liable to civil and criminal charges if they are found to have "acted in a fraudulent manner or abetted or colluded in any fraud by, or in relation to, the company of its directors or officers."
The bill passed through India's lower house, the Lok Sabha, in December 2012 and will now go to President Pranab Mukherjee for his assent, before it officially replaces the Companies Bill, 1956.