Auditor Appointment Letter Drafting

An auditor appointment letter is the formal written communication issued by a company to a Chartered Accountant (CA) firm or individual CA, conveying the appointment as the company\'s statutory auditor after the required board or shareholder resolution has been passed, and confirming the terms and conditions of the audit engagement. Under Section 139 of the Companies Act 2013, every company must appoint a statutory auditor: the first auditor must be appointed by the Board of Directors within 30 days of incorporation (or by shareholders in an EGM if the board fails to act within 30 days); subsequent auditors are appointed at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for a term of up to 5 consecutive years (for companies other than those requiring mandatory audit firm rotation). The appointment of a statutory auditor must be filed with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) in Form ADT-1 within 15 days of the AGM or Board resolution. The auditor appointment letter must include: the name and registration number of the auditor, the company details, the period and term of appointment (from the conclusion of the current AGM to the conclusion of the next/fifth AGM as applicable), the scope of the statutory audit (balance sheet, profit & loss, consolidated accounts), the audit fee and billing arrangement, the auditor\'s responsibilities under the Companies Act and applicable auditing standards, the company\'s obligations to provide access and assistance, the auditor\'s independence declaration (confirming no disqualification under Section 141), and the applicable quality control and reporting standards. The engagement letter (which the auditor firm reciprocates) and the appointment letter together form the formal audit engagement documentation required under SA 210 (Terms of Audit Engagements) issued by ICAI.