Chamber’s proposal to increase audit and review limits is to be entered into the law

In spring 2023, the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry turned to the Ministry of Finance with a proposal to increase the audit and review limits provided for in the Auditors Activities Act, which has remained unchanged since 2016.

Entrepreneurs have repeatedly approached the Chamber of Commerce over concerns that audit and review thresholds have remained too low due to rapid inflation in recent years. However, increasing the thresholds would help businesses to reduce the costs and workload of accounting entities.

In the past, the Ministry of Finance has relied on the principle that the share of annual accounts covered by an audit or review must be kept in the range of 80% +/- 3% of the turnover of the economy and the volume of assets. Data for 2021 shows that 88% of corporate assets were covered by an audit or review in 2021, suggesting that too much of the economy could be covered by audits and reviews.

In spring, the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry also asked the Ministry to analyse whether the share of the annual accounts covered by the audit or review must necessarily be kept within 80% of the turnover and volume of assets of the economy or whether it is possible to reduce that share.

In early December, information from the Ministry of Finance reached the Chamber of Commerce that a draft of the new caps is under development and the wish is to apply the new caps to the annual report for 2024. The Ministry expects the draft act to be passed by the summer of this year.

See  the last year's address is here.