Procedure establishes the conditions and steps for authorizing 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 authorization of financial auditors and audit firms in Romania, recognition of audit firms from other member states, withdrawal and reacquisition of authorization.

Conditions:

1. a) physical persons who carry out the statutory audit on behalf of the audit firm must be authorized as financial auditors in Romania, according to the present law;

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

d) if such an administrative or management body does not have more than 2 members, one of them must be an audit firm authorized in any of the member states or a financial auditor authorized 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 analyzed in relation to the fulfillment of the good reputation criteria, according to Order No. 89/2018 for the approval of the Rules regarding the good reputation of interns in the financial audit activity, financial auditors and audit firms;

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

The authorization request signed by the legal representative of the legal entity shall be submitted to the competent authority ASPAAS together with the authorization file of legal entities, which contains the following documents:

a) the company's articles of association, updated, registered at the trade registry office, certifying the structure of the administrative or management body of the audit firm, as well as the distribution of voting rights within it;

b) a certificate of registration, updated, issued by the trade registry, in original;

c) the registration certificate from the trade registry;

d) the list of physical persons who carry out the statutory audit on behalf of the audit firm authorized as financial auditors in Romania, signed by the legal representative of the legal entity;

e) the list of audit firms that are authorized in any member state or of financial auditors authorized 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 authorized in Romania or in any of the member states or of financial auditors authorized 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 declaration on own responsibility signed by the legal representative of the legal entity regarding compliance with the criteria of good reputation

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

Final document: The Order of the ASPAAS President for authorization as an audit firm issued, as a rule, within 45 days from the date of submission of the complete authorization file.

The request for authorization as an audit firm in Romania shall be rejected in the following situations:

a) the authorization file is incomplete or the submitted documents are non-compliant, if the completion or correction of the documents is not made within 10 days from the request sent by ASPAAS;

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

During the procedure, it may become necessary to notify the petitioner regarding the communication of valid documents or conditions whose compliance/fulfillment is not confirmed by the submitted documents.