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Byju’s auditor resigns over lack of transparency; founder cries foul

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Byju’s perils have been deepening with every passing day, and in a recent development, its auditor has put in papers citing several reasons, including lack of transparency and pending legal matters, among others. BDO (MSKA & Associates), which was appointed as Byju’s auditor for a period of five years (2022 to 2027, has stepped down through a letter submitted to the Registrar of Companies (RoC). However, Byju’s co-founder Byju’s Raveendran reportedly termed BDO’s (MSKA & Associates) resignation as blackmail tactics. As per his letter to the auditor, he said that the firm has complied with every request made by the auditor. BDO made a request to conduct forensic audit on Byjus after the beleaguered firm admitted into insolvency in July. “There has been inadequate support from the management of the company in providing us the books of account, information and explanations sought by us and sufficient appropriate audit evidence to enable us to complete the audit for the Financial Year 2022-23. We had requested audit information from the management through multiple communications including emails” mentioned the auditor resignation letter. BDO said that Byju’s has lost control over certain of its subsidiaries and had no access to their books of account due to litigation with lenders. Liquidation process, shareholder’s allegations and show cause notice by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were some other key issues. Byju’s has been grappling with a clutch of issues circling corporate governance for the past two years. However, the stepping down of the auditor just after a year is another big blow. It’s worth pointing out that BDO is the second auditor to resign in the past 15 months. In June last year, Deloitte resigned as auditor from Byju’s and its affiliate company Aakash Educational Services citing delay in submission of financial statements for FY22.