SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions | SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth
Institutions: National Financial Reporting Authority | Ministry of Corporate Affairs
The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has launched an Audit Practice Toolkit to raise audit-quality standards across India, with a particular focus on small and medium practitioners (SMPs). The Toolkit provides a scalable, sample-based audit strategy framework that firms can adapt to their size and the risk profile of different industry segments. It emphasises rigorous documentation and risk-aligned audit planning, ensuring that audit approaches are tailored to the economic realities and risk exposure of each auditee.
This launch builds on NFRA’s sustained outreach to auditors and forms part of a systemic programme of capacity support, with more toolkits planned for other audit areas later in the financial year. NFRA’s intent is to lift the baseline capability of SMPs, reinforcing financial-reporting discipline and strengthening trust in India’s corporate governance ecosystem.
This initiative supports India’s broader corporate-governance and transparency agenda under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, deepens market-integrity systems, and enhances investor confidence by promoting robust audit practices across firm sizes — not only large audit networks. It aligns with ongoing audit-reform efforts to build credible, risk-based assurance capacity throughout the economy.
What is an Audit Strategy? → An audit strategy sets the scope, focus, and direction of an audit, identifying where risks lie and why certain areas need deeper testing. It precedes audit planning, which details how and when specific tests will be performed. Together, they ensure that audits are risk-aligned, structured, and properly documented.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What mechanisms are needed to track adoption and effectiveness of NFRA’s audit toolkits across audit firms of all sizes?
Follow the full update here: NFRA Audit Practice Toolkit