Procedure establishes the conditions and stages for authorising legal entities as audit firms, at the written request of the legal representative of the legal entity, according to the Order of the ASPAAS President No. 87/2018 for the approval of the Rules regarding the authorisation of financial auditors and audit firms in Romania, the recognition of audit firms from other member states, withdrawal and reacquisition of authorisation.

Conditions:

1. a) the natural persons performing statutory audit on behalf of the audit firm must be authorised as financial auditors in Romania, according to this law;

b) the majority of voting rights in the audit firm must be held by audit firms authorised in any member state or by financial auditors authorised in Romania;

c) the majority of the members of the administrative or management body of the audit firm, but not more than 75%, must be represented by audit firms authorised in Romania or in any of the member states or by financial auditors authorised in Romania;

d) in the event that such an administrative or management body has no more than 2 members, one of them must be an audit firm authorised in any of the member states or a financial auditor authorised in Romania;

2. the good reputation condition as established by ASPAAS based on the provisions of art. 5 of Law no. 162/2017, which is assessed in relation to the fulfilment of the good reputation criteria, according to Order No. 89/2018 for the approval of the Rules regarding the good reputation of trainees in financial audit activity, financial auditors and audit firms;

3. have as their main object of activity the exercise of financial audit activity.

The authorisation request signed by the legal representative of the legal entity is submitted to the competent authority ASPAAS together with the authorisation file of the legal entity which contains the following documents:

a) the updated articles of association of the company, registered at the Trade Register Office, which certifies the structure of the administrative or management body of the audit firm, as well as the allocation of voting rights within it;

b) an updated certificate issued by the Trade Register, original;

c) the registration certificate from the Trade Register;

d) the list of natural persons performing statutory audit on behalf of the audit firm authorised as financial auditors in Romania, signed by the legal representative of the legal entity;

e) the list of audit firms authorised in any member state or by financial auditors authorised in Romania who are associates/shareholders in the audit firm, signed by the legal representative of the legal entity;

f) the list of audit firms authorised in Romania or in any of the member states or by financial auditors authorised in Romania who are members of the administrative or management body of the audit firm, signed by the legal representative of the legal entity;

g) the self-declaration signed by the legal representative of the legal entity regarding compliance with the good reputation criteria

h) any other document requested by ASPAAS in the analysis process.https://www.aspaas.gov.ro/autorizare-retragerea-autorizarii/formulare-utile/

Final document: The ASPAAS President's Order for authorisation as an audit firm issued, usually, within 45 days from the date of submission of the complete authorisation file.

The request for authorisation of an audit firm in Romania is rejected in the following situations:

a) the authorisation file is incomplete or the submitted documents are non-compliant, if completion or rectification of the documents has not been achieved within 10 days of the request sent by ASPAAS;

b) for failing to meet the authorisation conditions for audit firms provided by the applicable legal provisions and the Rules regarding the authorisation of financial auditors and audit firms in Romania, the recognition of audit firms from other member states, withdrawal and reacquisition of authorisation

In the course of the procedure, it may be necessary to notify the applicant regarding the communication of valid documents or conditions whose observance/fulfilment is not confirmed by the documents submitted.