The National Bank of Ukraine is set to cut the number of audit firms eligible to carry out an audit of banks' financial statements and approached the  Audit Chamber of Ukraine with a proposal  to apply sanctions against unscrupulous auditors.  A statement to this effect was made by Director of the Banking Supervision Department Kateryna Rozhkova at a meeting of the Committee on Audit of the Ukrainian Banks.

“We stand for the strengthening of bank auditors' responsibility.  In 2014-2015, eight audit firms failed to reveal the problems faced by the banks that later were declared insolvent. Auditors should assume responsibility for the quality of their audit reports. In this regard, we will approach the  Audit Chamber of Ukraine with a proposal  to apply sanctions against these auditors.  Another three audit firms have not carried out an audit of banks' financial statements for a long time , which leads us to  question whether they are fit to comply with the new requirements.   This is a logical and consistent step by the regulator:  Following the completion of the banking system clean-up, we are moving to the next phase - the phase of restarting the banking system . It is impossible to restart the banking system without having a quality audit.  High-quality banking supervision is the result of joint efforts by the banking supervisory authorities  and audit firms,” said Kateryna Rozhkova.

She also pointed out that the National Bank of Ukraine disapproves the practice of conducting an audit of banks in a perfunctory manner, adding that auditing practices should be upgraded.