Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Auditors Escaping Politically Active Individuals

February 14, 2012

Nino Natroshvili, Netgazeti

Like commercial banks accountants and auditors will become obliged to ascertain whether or not their client belongs to the category of politically active individual starting from February of 2012. In case of positive response they will be obliged to pass the information to Financial Monitoring Service of Control Chamber of Georgia.

This obligation will be imposed on auditors and accountants according to #12 order of the head of Financial Monitoring Service of National Bank issued by Mikheil Roinishvili on January 31st of 2012. The article 6 of the order regards the theme of politically active individuals. According to this article, accountants/auditors become obliged to ascertain whether or not their client or beneficiary owner belongs to the category of politically active individual.

MN Audit has been operating for two years now. The head of the company Iuri Papaskua notes with Netgazeti: “We do not have politically active individuals and will not have them in future. But if it is necessary to cooperate with Financial Monitoring Service, we will do so. The legislative amendments which envisaged monitoring of accounts in the banks were not acceptable for us either. These kinds of changes are not acceptable. But when there is such a normative act we have to obey and fulfill it.”

Iuri Papaskua states that his company will not have politically active client and accordingly, he will not have to fulfill this normative: “We will not have to fulfill it. I myself am not politically active.”

According to the order of the head of Financial Monitoring Service, if the client/his beneficiary owner represents politically active individual, auditor and accountant are obliged to receive permission from the leadership to establish business relations with this person also take reasonable measures to ascertain the origins of his/her financial assets/property and conduct intensive monitoring of business relations with such person.

If the client (or his beneficiary owner) becomes politically active individual after establishing business relations with accountant/auditor, the accountant/auditor becomes obliged right when this information is accessible to conduct intensive monitoring of the business relations with this person.

New regulation also establishes that accountant/auditor will have to determine the relevant procedures based on which he/she will ensure to find the relevant information from the client, also from the public sources or relevant databases in order to ascertain the politically active individuals and double-check the information.

Audit Company Group of Financial Decision has been operating in the local market since 2002. The director of the company Davit Lomsadze stated with Netgazeti that the financial documentation of politically active individuals must be transparent: “The political party is responsible for presenting initial documentations to the auditor. Auditor is responsible to make relevant conclusions. Political party must make the conclusion of auditor transparent. The auditor must not hide anything and politically active individual must acknowledge and auditor’s conclusion.”

The head of Group of Financial Decision agrees with the regulation of Financial Monitoring Service. However, he is careful to the issue of rendering service to politically active individuals: “Twice I refused to do audit for political party. I did not have a desire to do so. It is not that I was scared or unable to do this procedure. It is just that I might have become dependent on the client in future. They might have requested not to say some information and I might have become dependent on them.”

According to him, the financial reports of politically active individuals must be transparent.

“It is interesting who finances this individual or who he finances. This information must be open. As for the businessman, in this case the audit conclusion must not be disclosed,” – Davit Lomsadze states.

http://netgazeti.ge/GE/92/News/8216/.htm

On the same topic:

Auditors and Accountants Assigned to Reveal Politically Active Individuals

 

News