Auditing firms should play a vital role for Bangladesh's smooth graduation to a developing country from the LDC and for achieving other development goals by discharging their duties with professionalism, said speakers at a programme on Saturday.
However, there are some unscrupulous auditing firms who present doctored reports to misguide the regulators, badly affecting the economy, they further said.
They made the observations at a ceremony to distribute the '21st ICAB National Award for best presented Annual Reports in 2020', organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) at a city hotel.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi attended the ceremony as the chief guest, who along with other guests handed over the trophies among the top officials of the respective winning organisations.
Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Chairman of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Dr Md Hamid Ullah Bhuiyan, Secretary of the Financial Institutions Division Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah, and Chairman of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission Md Afzal Hossain attended the event as the guests of honour.
ICAB President Mahmudul Hasan Khusru FCA delivered a welcome address, while Chairman of Review Committee for Published Accounts & Reports (RCPAR) Mohammed Humayun Kabir FCA spoke, among others.
In his speech, Mr Tipu Munshi said, "I believe Bangladesh will achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) much ahead of 2030, as everything is going as planned".
Like many professionals, CAs should play a due role in this regard, he said.
However, there are some auditing firms that present misinformed reports creating a long term negative impact, he said.
Hamid Ullah Bhuiyan said there were still a number of unscrupulous auditors, who tried to misguide the authorities concerned.
He also urged the ICAB to be cautious with such firms.
ICAB President Mahmudul Hasan Khusru said the role of ICAB was to promote, enhance and improve the framing of the financial statements and reports, in order to reflect fair views of the entities to safeguard the interest of the investors, government, stakeholders and other user groups.
"The objective of the ICAB National Awards is to meet stakeholder expectations and high levels of professional ethics," he said.
According to the organisers, listed and non-listed 36 entities in 14 different categories received the awards representing different sectors, including state owned banks, private banks, financial services, manufacturing, power and energy, insurance, diversified holdings, information and communication technology, public organisations, NGOs or NPOs, service, agriculture, corporate governance and integrated reporting.
Recognising the first, second and third positions in each category, 11 entities which achieved a minimum threshold of scores were awarded the "Certificate of Merit."
During the year, ICAB-RCPAR received annual reports from 72 entities. Award for infrastructure and construction category could not be considered because of scoring marks lesser than the threshold.
In the banking sector (private) category, Shahjalal Islami Bank Ltd secured first prize, BRAC Bank Limited and Bank Asia Limited became joint second prize winners, and Mutual Trust Bank Limited became the third prize winner.
In the category of financial services sector, IDLC Finance Limited won the first prize, Bangladesh Finance Ltd won the second prize, while Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation Ltd won third prize.
In the manufacturing category, British American Tobacco (BD) Limited won the first prize, RAK Ceramic (Bangladesh) Ltd won the second prize, while Reckitt Benckiser BD Ltd won third prize.
For the power and energy sector, Summit Power Limited won the first prize, while in the insurance sector, Reliance Insurance Ltd, Prime Insurance Co. Ltd and Eastland Insurance Co Ltd became first, second and third prize winners respectively.
In the diversified holdings sector, ACI Limited won the first prize. Grameenphone Limited won the first prize in the information and communication technology category.
In the public sector entities category, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) became the first prize winner and Infrastructure Development Co. Ltd (IDCOL) became the second prize winner.
In the non-governmental organisation (NGO) or non-profit organisation category, SAJIDA Foundation secured the first prize, BRAC secured second, and Ghashful and Community Development Center (CODEC) became joint third winners.
Unique Hotel & Resorts Limited became the first prize winner in the category of service sector, while Golden Harvest Agro Industries Limited became the first prize winner in the agriculture category.
In corporate governance disclosures, Bank Asia Limited and Lanka Bangla Finance Ltd became joint first prize winners, Shahjalal Islami Bank Ltd and IDLC Finance Ltd joint second prize winners, and Brac Bank Ltd became third prize winner.
For the integrated reporting category, IDLC Finance Limited became the first prize winner, LankaBangla Finance Ltd second prize winner and Bank Asia third prize winner.
The other entities received certificate of merits were Uddipan, Southeast Bank Limited, Eastern Bank Limited, The City Bank Limited, Janata Bank Limited, Rupali Bank Limited, IPDC Finance Limited, Marico Bangladesh Limited, Orion Pharma Limited, MJL Bangladesh Ltd and Paramount Textiles Ltd.
A seven-member Jury Board chaired by Md Matiul Islam FCA, Chairman, IIDFC and former finance secretary of the country, reviewed the recommended list of winners.
The other members of the jury board were Ahmed Ataul Hakeem FCMA, former Comptroller and Auditor General Bangladesh; Dr Atiur Rahman, former Bangladesh Bank Governor; Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, former senior secretary; Dr Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow, CPD; Shah Husain Imam, Editor of the Financial Express; and Dr Mahmuda Akhter, Council Member-Financial Reporting Council (FRC)-Bangladesh.
Md Matiul Islam received the ICAB lifetime achievement award from the chief guest.
