The Appellate Authority for chartered accountants has upheld the ICAI's decision to bar two auditors - P Sivaprasad and Chintapatla Ravindernath for professional misconduct in auditing the books of erstwhile Satyam Computer Services. The founder chairman of Satyam Computer B Ramalinga Raju had fudged the company's accounts to the tune of more than Rs 6,000 crore over a period of nine years starting from 2000. A disciplinary panel of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) had found both of them guilty in December 2011. Sivaprasad and Ravindernath were part of Price Waterhouse and Company of India at Bangalore (PW India,Bangalore) the statutory auditor of Satyam Computer from 2000 till 2009. The Appellate Authority of the ICAI,in its order last month,said that the "very fact that fudged accounts were certified as true and fair accounts for nine long years shows and proves that the conduct of the audit by the auditors was in gross disregard to the audit requirements." In December 2011,the disciplinary panel had found the two auditors guity of professional misconduct. Consequently,they were slapped with a penalty of Rs 5 lakh each besides seeking the removal of their names from the Institute's register of members. The order came on appeals made by Sivaprasad and Ravindernath against the panel's decision. The Appellate Authority,set up under the Chartered Accountants Act,is chaired by former Delhi High Court Judge S N Dhingra. According to Appellate Authority's order,Sivaprasad was associated with the audit of Satyam from April 2000 to March 2005 while Ravindernath was associated with the company's audit from April 2005 to September 2008. The fudging of accounts at Satyam was disclosed by Raju himself in January 2009 and is considered as one of the biggest corporate scandals in the country.
