CMA raises the bar for insurance auditors

To ensure audit firms in Oman continue to hold themselves to high audit quality standards, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) is planning to overhaul the existing regulations governing audit firms including raising the bar for accreditation requirements.

The CMA recently announced the implementation of Oman’s new Commercial Companies Law and the authority will be issuing a number of new regulations within one year to fill the gap.

Only those audit firms which provide services to the listed companies, insurance sector, mutual funds or to other stock market related activities, need to get accreditation from the CMA.

“Most audit firms are not regulated by us (CMA). Only companies which are operating in regulated areas such as insurance, stock market or others sectors governed by us are needed to take audit services from the list of accredited audit firms provided by us,” said Mohammed Said al Abri, vice president – capital market sector at the CMA.