ISLAMABAD, July 10: The Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan has penalized three practising chartered accountants on the charge of negligence in performing their duties as auditors of the listed companies.

The decision, announced by the SECP here on Wednesday, was taken by the Enforcement & Monitoring Division (EMD) under Section 260 of the Companies Ordinance 1984 and Rule 35 of the Companies (General Provisions and Forms) Rules 1985.

The chartered accountants, who were thus proceeded against included: Kanwar Furqan Ali & Co; M.A. Alam & Co; and Ejaz Ahmed & Co.

Action against them was taken because in two cases, the audit report had not been submitted on the prescribed form 35-A and also because they had not drawn attention of the members to the failure of one of the listed company concerned to abide by the Companies Ordinance and International Accounting Standards for their accounts for the years 2000 and 2001.

In another case, it was found that the chartered accountant had not followed the disclosure requirements as required under the Companies Ordinance.

According to the SECP statement, the executives of all the three CA firms admitted their fault before the Commission.