Since 1 October 2022, Responding to Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations (Sections 260 and 360) applied to audits of listed entities. The 2026 edition extends NOCLAR to all listed entities and their material subsidiaries — the group auditor of a listed parent now carries NOCLAR duties into the material components. The seven-step response framework (obtain understanding → discuss with management → escalate to TCWG → assess response → determine further action → document → consider withdrawal/reporting) is unchanged in structure.
A firm cannot accept the audit of a Public Interest Entity where it has previously provided a non-assurance service that would create a self-review threat to the financial statements. The practical test moves from "can we put safeguards around it" to "did we touch what we would now audit" — check your firm’s NAS history before accepting a PIE appointment.
CA firms get more flexibility in advertising content, and services that are not exclusive to the CA profession (accounting, consultancy) may be promoted through push technology. ICAI-registered network firms may run their own websites, and the ICAI (Global Networking) Guidelines, 2025 give a compliant route to international affiliations.
"Management consultancy and other services" now expressly includes forensic accounting, research analysis, social impact assessment and artificial intelligence. The enabling provisions for social-impact, CSR-impact, business-responsibility and sustainability assessment services took effect earlier, from 11 December 2025.
The 2026 Code recommends audit fees be accepted only through digital or banking channels — a documented money trail for the fee itself, aligned with the transparency logic the rest of the Code applies to independence.
Working timeline: 2019 Code (12th edition) in force 1 July 2020 → deferred NOCLAR / fees / tax-services provisions in force 1 October 2022 → sustainability-service enablement 11 December 2025 → Code of Ethics 2026 (13th edition) 1 April 2026. Verify the text on ethics.icai.org before relying on a summary — including this one.
Independence confirmation, acceptance checklist and engagement letter — the three papers a peer reviewer opens first when testing ethics compliance.
CORAA keeps the acceptance-to-sign-off trail in one engagement record — start free: your first audit is on us.
The 12th edition (Code of Ethics, 2019, aligned to the IESBA Code) has applied since 1 July 2020. The revised 13th edition — the Code of Ethics, 2026 — takes effect from 1 April 2026, with the social-impact/sustainability service-enablement provisions effective from 11 December 2025.
In force since 1 October 2022 (Paragraphs 410.3 to R410.6): where gross annual professional fees from an audit client exceed 40% of the firm’s total fees for two consecutive years, the firm must disclose the dependence — including reporting to ICAI. Firms whose total fees do not exceed ₹20 lakh are exempt, as are audits of government companies, public undertakings, nationalised banks, public financial institutions and other auditor appointments made by the Government or regulators.
No. NOCLAR under the ICAI Code applies to audits of listed entities — extended by the 2026 edition to their material subsidiaries. For other audits, the duties on illegality still flow from SA 250 and Sec 143(12) fraud reporting; NOCLAR’s specific response ladder is not compulsory there.
Subsection 604 (in force since 1 October 2022) permits many tax services but requires the firm to evaluate self-review and advocacy threats — tax planning that the audit would later have to evaluate, contingent-fee tax work, and acting as advocate before a tribunal in a material matter are the danger zones. Routine compliance filings generally survive the test; document the threat evaluation either way.
The 2026 edition relaxes the historically strict solicitation rules: more flexible advertising content, push-technology promotion for services not exclusive to CAs, and websites for ICAI-registered network firms. The core discipline — no unverifiable claims, no comparison, dignity of the profession — remains.
Yes — three blocks of the 2019 Code (NOCLAR Sections 260/360, Fees-Relative Size 410.3–R410.6, Tax Services Subsection 604) were deferred from the 1 July 2020 commencement, largely for COVID, and finally took effect on 1 October 2022 with India-specific amendments such as the 40% threshold and the ₹20 lakh small-firm exemption.
