Regulatory Alerts2020-12-14
Added · Updated
Companies (Maintenance and Audit of Cost Accounts) Regulations 2020
These regulations mandate companies engaged in production, processing, manufacturing, or mining to maintain detailed cost accounting records and appoint a qualified cost auditor. The board must appoint the initial auditor within ninety days of the notification and subsequent auditors within one hundred and eighty days of each financial year's commencement, with specific fit-and-proper criteria and independence requirements governing their eligibility. Companies are required to submit cost audit reports, including statements on capacity utilization and stock-in-trade, to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan within one hundred and eighty days of the financial year's close. The regulations also repeal seven prior cost accounting orders and establish penalties for contraventions under the Companies Act, 2017.