Accounting Related Advisory Services
We provide comprehensive advisory services to help clients meet evolving accounting and financial reporting standards with precision and confidence.
Our support includes:
- Guidance on compliance with applicable Accounting Standards, Auditing Standards, Guidance Notes, and Technical Guides issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
- Advisory on the disclosure and presentation of financial statements in accordance with best practices and regulatory expectations.
- Assistance with the preparation of Consolidated Financial Statements (CFS).
- Expert support for Indian GAAP, US GAAP, International GAAP, and Ind AS implementation and compliance.
- Advisory on compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
- Line-by-line accounting services, tailored to client-specific processes and structures.
Internal Audit
Pankaj R. Shah & Associates conducts Internal Audits that go beyond compliance—we aim to strengthen governance, enhance internal controls, and drive operational efficiency.
Internal Audit helps organizations evaluate their internal systems, identify risks, and ensure that business processes are aligned with strategic objectives and regulatory expectations.
Regulatory Context
Under the Companies Act, 2013, certain classes of companies are mandated to appoint internal auditors. However, even where not mandatory, internal audit serves as a strategic tool—offering management an independent, objective assessment of how effectively policies, processes, and controls are functioning.
Our Approach
- Assessing internal control systems and identifying gaps or inefficiencies.
- Reviewing compliance with laws, regulations, and internal policies.
- Evaluating risk management processes and recommending mitigation strategies.
- Providing practical, actionable advice for process improvement and operational excellence.
Value to Clients
- Greater transparency in business operations.
- Early detection of control weaknesses and risk exposures.
- Improved accountability and governance.
- Enhanced trust among stakeholders and regulatory authorities.
Our goal is simple—to help businesses maintain integrity, efficiency, and confidence in their operations through continuous improvement and strong internal oversight.
Transaction Audit
Our Transaction Audit services provide an in-depth review of your organization’s financial transactions to ensure accuracy, transparency, and compliance. Conducted on a monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly basis, these audits strengthen financial discipline and help management identify control gaps early.
Scope of Review
The audit covers all key financial processes, including:
Cash and Bank Transactions
- We verify cash receipts, payments, contra entries, and bank operations for correctness and compliance.
- This includes reconciling balances with audited financial statements, checking insurance for cash in transit, validating authorizations, ensuring proper documentation, and reviewing Bank Reconciliation Statements and term loan utilization.
- Our goal is to ensure secure handling of funds and adherence to both statutory and internal controls.
Purchases and Expenses
- We examine the entire purchase cycle to confirm that all procurements are properly authorized, documented, and recorded.
- This involves matching purchase orders, goods receipt notes (GRNs), and vendor invoices, reviewing capital purchase authorizations, validating fixed asset capitalization, and verifying input credit accounting.
- The review ensures that procurement procedures remain transparent, efficient, and compliant.
Sales and Revenue
- Our audit of sales processes focuses on accurate revenue recognition and documentation.
- We verify domestic and export sales, review dispatch documents, evaluate credit policies, check debit and credit notes, and identify areas of potential revenue leakage.
- Special attention is given to export incentives, scrap sales, and sales return policies, ensuring every transaction aligns with accounting and tax standards.
Journal Vouchers (JVs)
- We review JVs to ensure all adjustments and manual entries are legitimate, authorized, and compliant with company policy.
- Each entry is checked for proper accounting treatment and adherence to applicable Accounting Standards and Ind AS guidelines.
Statutory Payments
- We verify all statutory payments — including TDS, GST, PF, ESIC, and Professional Tax — to ensure timely compliance.
- Our audit procedures include matching challans, verifying deductions, confirming payment deadlines, and reconciling monthly and quarterly returns with ledgers.
Other Key Areas
- Trial balances, ledgers, sub-ledgers, and control accounts
- Inter-company transactions and consolidation processes
- Internal Financial Controls (IFC) and adherence to policies
- Insurance coverage, R&D procedures, marketing, and tendering processes
This wider review offers valuable insights into operational efficiency, financial accuracy, and compliance posture across departments.
Special Area Audit
Our Special Area Audit services focus on evaluating specific operational and financial areas that directly impact organizational efficiency, compliance, and governance. These audits go beyond financial transactions, providing management with deeper insights into the effectiveness of internal systems, controls, and statutory compliance.
Budgeting
We review the budgeting process to ensure that financial planning aligns with business objectives and actual performance.
- Preparation, approval, and monitoring of budgets
- Variance analysis and evaluation of causes and implications of deviations
This helps management strengthen cost control and decision-making across departments.
Compliance with Statutory Framework
We assess compliance with all relevant Acts, Regulations, and Company Law requirements, including but not limited to:
- The Companies Act, 2013
- The Income Tax Act, 1961
- Goods & Services Tax (GST) and TDS regulations
- FEMA, Labour Laws, and IT Act provisions
Our review includes checking statutory registers, records, challans, and filings to ensure adherence, timeliness, and documentation completeness.
Human Resources (HR) & Payroll
We evaluate HR and payroll systems for accuracy, control, and legal compliance. The review covers:
- Recruitment, induction, and appraisal processes
- Payroll processing, attendance management, and full & final settlements
- Compliance with PF, ESIC, Gratuity, and other labour laws
- Employee reimbursements, welfare policies, and insurance coverage
This ensures proper authorization, transparency, and security in HR operations.
Information Security & Data Privacy
Information integrity is critical in today’s digital environment. Our IT and data privacy audit covers:
- Access control and password policies
- Backup, disaster recovery, and firewall systems
- MIS and IT department controls
- Data protection measures and compliance with privacy regulations
We evaluate IT infrastructure to ensure that business data remains secure, accessible, and protected from risks.
Fixed Assets
We review all aspects of fixed asset management, including:
- Verification of capital budgeting, procurement, and physical verification
- Compliance with AS-10 and other applicable accounting standards
- Depreciation calculation, CWIP treatment, and insurance coverage
- Policies governing asset disposal and replacement
This ensures that capital investments are recorded, safeguarded, and managed effectively.
Revenue Model
We assess the client’s revenue recognition framework and sales processes to ensure compliance with accounting standards and internal policies.
- Sales budgeting, contract terms, and variance analysis
- Pricing mechanisms for accurate, timely, and transparent revenue reporting
Procurement Process
We evaluate the end-to-end procurement system — from purchase requisition to vendor payment.
- Authorization levels, vendor evaluation, and quotation comparison
- Purchase order controls and approval hierarchies for consistency, fairness, and value for money
Administrative Process Review
We review internal administrative systems such as expense approvals, travel claims, facility management, and document controls to confirm operational efficiency and policy adherence.
The goal is to enhance coordination between administrative, accounting, and compliance functions.
Inventory Management
We perform detailed reviews of inventory control systems, including:
- Verification of stock registers and physical stock counts
- Examination of valuation methods and reconciliation practices
- Review of slow-moving or obsolete inventory policies
These reviews help prevent pilferage, improve accuracy, and ensure that inventory valuation complies with accounting standards.
Each audit is tailored to the client’s business environment, ensuring practical insights that drive better performance and sustained compliance.
Statutory Audit
Our Statutory Audit services are designed to deliver true assurance on the integrity of financial statements while ensuring that your organization remains fully compliant with applicable laws, standards, and regulations.
Conducted in accordance with the Companies Act, 2013, and the Standards on Auditing issued by the ICAI, our audits provide stakeholders with a reliable and independent assessment of the financial position and performance of the company. We adopt a disciplined, risk-based approach supported by robust audit tools, checklists, and documentation practices, delivering both compliance and meaningful insights to help management strengthen governance and credibility.
Scope of Audit
- Our statutory audit covers all critical aspects of compliance and reporting, including:
- Companies Act Compliance Verification of adherence to provisions under the Companies Act, 2013 including maintenance of statutory registers, board meeting and general meeting compliances, board resolutions, disclosures, and documentation requirements.
- Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) Compliance Review of tax deduction, deposit timelines, and reporting to ensure correctness of TDS/TCS and related compliances including returns, certificates, and interest/penalty exposure in case of defaults; verification of compliance with the Income Tax Act and related notifications.
- Goods and Services Tax (GST) Compliance Examination of GST returns, input credit reconciliation, and outward/inward supplies to verify correctness of tax positions and reporting; evaluation of processes to ensure alignment with statutory provisions and minimize exposure to penalties.
- Accounting & Auditing Standards Verification of financial statements with reference to applicable Accounting Standards/Ind AS and Standards on Auditing, including disclosures and notes to ensure fair presentation, consistency, and transparency.
- Physical Verification Supervision and review of physical verification of inventories and fixed assets, reconciliation of records with actuals, and assessing adequacy of internal control systems.
- Reconciliations Verification of key reconciliations such as bank accounts, vendor/customer ledgers, statutory dues, advances, provisions, balances, TDS, and GST ledgers, ensuring integrity and accuracy in financial reporting.
- Other Areas Review of contingent liabilities, related-party transactions, managerial remuneration, segment reporting, cash flow statements, notes to accounts, and disclosures as per statutory and professional requirements.
Our Approach
We go beyond statutory compliance to provide constructive feedback that enhances financial discipline and strengthens controls. Our audits emphasize planning, risk identification, materiality, sampling, test checks, analytical review procedures, and robust documentation to ensure an effective and efficient audit while delivering actionable insights and recommendations for process improvements and internal controls.Our audit methodology is designed to:
- Strengthen stakeholder confidence in financial reporting
- Identify potential risk and control weaknesses
- Enhance accuracy, consistency, and accountability in accounting systems
Outcome
- A statutory audit conducted by Pankaj R. Shah & Associates ensures:
- True and fair representation of financial statements
- Full compliance with all statutory and regulatory obligations
- Independent, credible assurance for shareholders, lenders, and regulators
Our objective is not only to express an opinion on financial statements but also to provide actionable insights, helping clients improve systems, governance, and decision-making.
Implementation of IFC over Financial Reporting
Robust internal financial controls are the foundation of reliable financial reporting, transparent governance, and stakeholder confidence. Implementation of Internal Financial Controls over Financial Reporting (IFC over FR) ensures that companies maintain a disciplined and auditable framework for financial accuracy, accountability, and compliance with the requirements of the Companies Act, 2013 and applicable accounting standards.
Regulatory Context
- The Companies Act, 2013 places clear accountability on companies to establish and maintain adequate internal financial controls. Directors are required to report on the adequacy and operating effectiveness of IFC, and auditors must evaluate and comment on the same. The Board’s Report and the Auditor’s Report, therefore, include specific disclosures regarding the design and effectiveness of IFC to ensure the adequacy and effectiveness of internal controls:
- Management is responsible for designing and maintaining appropriate internal controls.
- Auditors must comment on the adequacy and operating effectiveness of these controls in their reports.
- Independent Directors and Audit Committees oversee internal control systems and ensure integrity, risk management, and compliance with the control framework.
Objectives of IFC Implementation
- Our approach focuses on improving the strength, accountability, and transparency of internal controls by:
- Enhancing organizational discipline and risk awareness
- Establishing clear ownership for control processes
- Creating a transparent reporting structure on key financial controls
- Enabling early detection of control weaknesses and potential non-compliance
Our Implementation Framework
We follow a structured four-phase methodology to ensure comprehensive design and implementation of IFC systems:
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Planning & Scoping
Review of business processes, financial statements, and policies to identify significant accounts and control areas.
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Risk Assessment & Control Design
Evaluation of entity-level and process-level risks, identification and mapping of key controls, design of mitigating controls, and preparation of the Risk and Control Matrix (RACM).
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Testing & Remediation
Walkthroughs, control testing, and remediation planning for identified gaps to ensure operational effectiveness.
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Reporting & Recommendations
Final reporting of findings, control enhancement suggestions, and management-approved policy updates.
Non-Compliance Risks
Failure to comply with IFC requirements can attract penalties under the Companies Act, 2013, including monetary penalties and, in certain cases, imprisonment of responsible officers. More importantly, weak IFC frameworks increase vulnerability to financial inaccuracies, fraud risks, and reputational damage.
Outcome
Our IFC over FR implementation services help organizations:
- Strengthen their internal governance and accountability
- Ensure compliance with statutory mandates
- Build a culture of control consciousness
- Enhance confidence among investors, regulators, and auditors
By combining technical expertise with practical insights, we help organizations embed robust IFC frameworks that not only meet regulatory expectations but also transform compliance into a source of organizational strength.
IND AS Implementation
The transition from Indian GAAP to Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) represents a major shift in financial reporting, requiring careful planning, system alignment, and control evaluation. At Pankaj R. Shah & Associates, we provide end-to-end assistance in the implementation and compliance of Ind AS, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and full alignment with statutory requirements.
Our Approach
We follow a structured methodology that covers every stage of Ind AS conversion — from initial assessment to post-implementation review.
Phase I: Gap Analysis
We begin with a detailed review of the client’s financial framework to assess readiness for Ind AS adoption. This includes:
- Analysis of accounting systems, policies, methods, and disclosures
- Evaluation of key transactions, estimates, and inter-company dealings
- Identification of accounting and reporting differences between Indian GAAP and Ind AS
- Assessment of implications on IT systems, tax, and business processes
- Preparation of an Impact Assessment Report outlining required process and system changes
Phase II: Design & Planning
Once key gaps are identified, we design a comprehensive transition plan that ensures smooth adoption. This involves:
- Review of relevant Ind AS standards and exemptions (as per Ind AS 101)
- Evaluation of accounting choices and their financial implications
- Development of a conversion roadmap and updated accounting policies
- Determination of system and control modifications required for compliance
Phase III: Implementation
We guide management through the actual transition process, including:
- Adjusting revenue recognition and financial statement presentation
- Configuring MIS/ERP systems to capture Ind AS-specific data
- Preparing required disclosures and reconciliations
- Training accounting teams to adopt revised reporting practices
- Assessing the transition impact on financial statements and internal controls
Post-Implementation Support
- Review of implementation outcomes and corrective actions
- Analysis of impact on EPS, ratios, and key financial metrics
- Coordination with internal and statutory auditors
- Guidance for management and staff on maintaining smooth operations under the Ind AS framework
- Achieve full and timely compliance with statutory requirements
- Improve transparency and comparability in financial reporting
- Strengthen internal controls and reporting accuracy
- Enhance investor confidence and global compatibility
We help organizations navigate the complexities of Ind AS with confidence — turning regulatory transition into an opportunity for stronger governance and financial clarity.