Task:

[02.011-ADGM] - COMPLIANCE # APPOINTMENT OF RECOGNIZED AUDITOR

Purpose:

To notify the ADGM RA of the Appointment of a Recognized Auditor.

An auditor of a private company may only be: (1) appointed by the shareholders; or (2) appointed by the directors; or (3) deemed re-appointed.

For each financial year for which an auditor of a private company is to be appointed (other than the company’s first financial year), the appointment must be made before the end of the one month period beginning with: the end of the time allowed for sending out copies of the company’s annual accounts and reports for the previous financial year; or if earlier, the day on which copies of the company’s annual accounts and reports for the previous financial year are sent out. In practice, the first auditors are often appointed by the directors during the first financial year. The shareholders should then re-appoint the auditor for the subsequent financial year (during the period for appointing auditors, i.e. within one month of the annual accounts being circulated). This will enable the ‘deemed re-appointment regime to fall into place.

The simplest way of dealing with the appointment of auditors is for the shareholders to appoint the auditor in a general meeting (by way of ordinary resolution) so that they can be deemed re-appointed year after year.

Legal Entities:

Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships (provided template will need to be adjusted for LLPs)

Questions:

1) Do we have access to the client’s entity on the KOUNTED dashboard? If not, an ORS form needs to be filed first to gain access because only users with authority over the entity can file this request.

2) What was the method of appointing the auditor – shareholder’s resolution or in a general meeting?

3) What is the name of the recognized auditor – note that this must be an ADGM recognized auditor.

Pay Attention:

The company can only appoint an auditor recognised by ADGM. The list of recognized auditors is accessible on the ADGM website via the following link: https://newreg.adgm.com/s/search-results, follow the steps as shown in the screenshot below.

Submission:

Online via the ADGM RA portal https://newreg.adgm.com/

Use the Application Form “Appointment and Cessation of Registered Auditors” available on the Registered Auditor’s tab

Timeline:

As soon as practicable once the new auditor is appointed

Timeframe:

KOUNTED 1-2 working days including drafting the supporting documents and the online application

ADGM: 3 working days, but the ADGM RA reserves the right to return the application for revision/further clarification, which would increase the review timeline.