Considering the lockdown situation prevailing in the country due to the spread of COVID-19, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given public sector banks (PSBs) some flexibility to reduce the number of branches covered under branch audit.

Under the modified guidelines pertaining to statutory branch audit of PSBs,the RBI said the same may be carried out so as to cover 90 per cent of all funded and 90 per cent of all non-funded exposures of the bank.

The banks may try to ensure that the selection of branches and centralised hubs for statutory audit include a representative cross section of rural/semi-urban/urban and metropolitan branches, including branches which are not subjected to concurrent audit.

As per the earlier guidelines, the RBI advised that statutory branch audit of PSBs may be carried out for all branches with Advances of ₹20 crore and above, and one-fifth of the remaining branches covering a representative cross section of rural/semi-urban/urban and metropolitan branches, predominantly including branches which are not subjected to concurrent audit, so as to cover 90 per cent of advances of a bank.

Centralised Processing Units/Local Processing Units/and other centralized hubs would be included in the one fifth of the remaining branches every year, it added.

A central statutory auditor (CSA) for a PSB said the modified guidelines on statutory branch audit of PSBs will exclude about 15 per cent of the branches from the audit purview.

“If most of the branches are audited, the consolidated picture that emerges vis-a-vis a bank’s book is better. Now with about 15 per cent branches likely to get excluded from audit, there will be lot of pressure on the CSA to verify the numbers,” said a CSA.

The RBI said depending on the impact of corona virus and lockdown situation in specific areas, PSBs may take adequate precautionary measures to ensure safety of concerned auditors and bank officials by implementing such procedures that may be required.

The measures include making arrangements to provide documents/information required by auditors through electronic medium wherever feasible and minimize physical movement by judicious allocation of branches.

In case Banks face problems on account of refusal to take up assignments by the branch auditors, they can approach RBI for approval to appoint additional audit firms selected from the list of recommended audit firms made available by RBI.

Source : https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/rbi-allows-flexibility-to-public-sector-banks-on-statutory-branch-audit/article31445776.ece#