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CBN Rules on Auditors
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given all deposit money banks (DMBs) up to December 31, 2010 to replace external auditors that have been appointed for more than 10 years including years spent with constituent legacy banks.
The CBN in a statement said the directive is in line with the provisions of paragraph 8.2.3 of the CBN Code of Corporate Governance for banks, which stipulates that “the tenure of the auditors in a given bank shall be for a maximum period of ten years after which, the audit firm shall not be reappointed in the bank until after a period of another ten years.”
The maximum period of 10 years according to the CBN shall include the period an audit firm which later merged/changed name, first commenced audit assignment in the bank.
Consequently, all banks are to submit their status of compliance with the provisions of the Code on or before December 31, 2010 to the director, Banking Supervision of the CBN.
The apex bank added that failure to comply with the directive will result in the CBN directing the affected auditors to resign mandatorily.