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Financial Reporting Act 2013

External Reporting Board, standards, and provisions that apply to other enactments - Standard provisions relating to auditor qualifications and access to information - Auditor access to information

39: Auditor may require information and explanations from director or employee

You could also call this:

"Auditors can ask company bosses or staff for info to help check the company's money"

Illustration for Financial Reporting Act 2013

If you are an auditor for a company, you can ask the company's directors or employees for information and explanations you need to do your job. You can ask for anything you think is necessary to check the company's finances and make sure everything is correct.

If a director or employee is asked for information or an explanation and does not provide it, they can be charged with an offence and fined up to $50,000.

If an employee is charged with this offence, they can defend themselves by saying they did not have the information or were unable to give the explanations because of their job role.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM4632950.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Banking and loansBusiness > Industry rules
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38: Specified entity must give auditor access to information, or

"Let the auditor see your records or you might get a fine"

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39A: Offence for unqualified auditor to act, or

"It's against the law for someone to be an auditor if they are not qualified to do the job."

Part 2External Reporting Board, standards, and provisions that apply to other enactments
Standard provisions relating to auditor qualifications and access to information: Auditor access to information

39Auditor may require information and explanations from director or employee

  1. An auditor of a specified entity is entitled to require from a director or an employee of the specified entity the information and explanations that he or she thinks necessary for the performance of his or her duties as auditor.

  2. A director or an employee who fails to comply with a requirement to provide information or an explanation under subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000.

  3. It is a defence to an employee charged with an offence against subsection (2) if he or she proves that—

  4. he or she did not have the information required in his or her possession or under his or her control; or
    1. by reason of the position occupied by him or her or the duties assigned to him or her, he or she was unable to give the explanations required.

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