Register for third-country auditors and audit entities

Third-country auditors and audit entities who carry out audits of the annual or consolidated financial statements of a company incorporated in a third-country company shall be registered with the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet) and subject to Finanstilsynet's oversight, in accordance with the Statutory Audit Directive (Directive 2006/43/EC) Article 45.

• Statutory Audit Directive (Directive 2006/43/EC) Article 45

1. Background

The Audit Directive as amended by Directive 2014/56/EU has been adopted as part of Norwegian legislation, see Act on auditing and auditors section 12-6.

2. Scope of registration

The duty to register within the Norwegian third-country auditor register applies to statutory audit entities or auditors registered in any state other than the states of the European Economic Area (EEA);

1. who carry out audits of the annual or consolidated financial statements of a company incorporated in a country other than the states of the EEA, and
2. whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market in Norway, and
3. have not solely issued debts instruments with a normal value per unit at the date of issue of at least EUR 100.00 or equivalent in another currency.

3. Requirements for registration

Application for registration in the Norwegian third-country auditor register shall be made in the standard form A or B depending on the status of the third-country where the auditor/audit entity is registered.

A third-country audit entity may only be registered by Finanstilsynet if the following requirements are fulfilled:

1. The majority of board of directors members meet requirements equivalent to those laid down in the amended Statutory Audit Directive Article 4 to 10 regarding approval as statutory auditor including good repute, educational qualifications, examination of professional competence, theoretical knowledge and practice. If the third-country audit entity does not have a board of directors, the above mentioned requirements apply to the closest corresponding company body.
2. The third-country auditor carrying out the audit on behalf of the third-country audit entity meets requirements equivalent to those laid down in paragraph 1 above.
3. The audit of the annual financial statement is carried out in accordance with international auditing standards (International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC 1) and other related standards issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) through the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)), see The Audit Directive Article 26.
4. The audit of the annual financial statement is carried out with independence and objectivity, see The Audit Directive Article 22 and 22b.
5. The audit firm or auditor has adequate rules in place which provide that fees for the audit is not influenced or determined by the provisions of additional services to the audited entity and cannot be base don any form of contingency, see The Audit Directive Article 25.
6. Transparency reports shall be published in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 Article 13 or equivalent foreign requirements. The annual transparency report shall be signed and made available on the audit firms website within four months of the preceding financial year.
   The transparency report should contain the following information:
   a. description of the legal structure and ownership of the audit firm;
   b. where the statutory auditor or the audit firm is a member of a network:
   (i) a description of the network and the legal and structural arrangements in the network;
   (ii) the name of each statutory auditor operating as a sole practitioner or audit firm that is a member of the network;
   (iii) the countries in which each statutory auditor operating as a sole practitioner or audit firm that is a member of the network is qualified as a statutory auditor or has his, her or its registered office, central administration or principal place of business;
   (iv) the total turnover achieved by the statutory auditors operating as sole practitioners and audit firms that are members of the network, resulting from the statutory audit of annual and consolidated financial statements;
   c. a description of the governance structure of the audit firm;
   d. a description of the internal quality control system of the statutory auditor or of the audit firm and a statement by the administrative or management body on the effectiveness of its functioning;
   e. an indication of when the last quality assurance review referred to in Article 26 was carried out;
   f. a list of public-interest entities for which the statutory auditor or the audit firm carried out statutory audits during the preceding financial year;
   g. a statement concerning the statutory auditor's or the audit firm's independence practices which also confirms that an internal review of independence compliance has been conducted;
   h. a statement on the policy followed by the statutory auditor or the audit firm concerning the continuing education of statutory auditors referred to in Article 13 of Directive 2006/43/EC;
   i. information concerning the basis for the partners' remuneration in audit firms;
   j. a description of the statutory auditor's or the audit firm's policy concerning the rotation of key audit partners and staff in accordance with Article 17(7);
   k. where not disclosed in its financial statements within the meaning of Article 4(2) of Directive 2013/34/EU, information about the total turnover of the statutory auditor or the audit firm, divided into the following categories:
   (i) revenues from the statutory audit of annual and consolidated financial statements of public-interest entities and entities belonging to a group of undertakings whose parent undertaking is a public-interest entity;
   (ii) revenues from the statutory audit of annual and consolidated financial statements of other entities;
   (iii) revenues from permitted non-audit services to entities that are audited by the statutory auditor or the audit firm; and
   (iv) revenues from non-audit services to other entities
7. Registration may not take place before the transparency report of the preceding financial year has been published on the webpage of the third-country audit entity.

4. Application form

4.1 Equivalent third-countries – Form A

The European Commission may recognize the systems of public oversight, quality assurance and investigations and penalties in the third-country to meet the equivalent requirements as for similar systems in the member states of the EEA.

The following countries have been recognised as equivalent third-countries:

• Abu Dhabi
• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• Dubai International Financial Center
• Guernsey
• Indonesia
• Isle of Man
• Japan
• Jersey
• Malaysia 
• Mauritius
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Turkey
• USA

Equivalent third-countries should send Form A to Finanstilsynet. For any questions, see FAQ – Form A.

• Form A
• FAQ – form A

4.2 Transitional third-countries – Form A

Some third-countries have public oversight, quality assurance and investigations and penalties that according to the European Commission do not meet the equivalent requirements as for similar systems in the member states of the EEA.

The Commission has taken a decision providing for a transitional period in respect of auditors and audit entities from some third-countries in order to take a final equivalence decision.

The following countries have been recognised as transitional third-countries:

• Bermuda
• Cayman Islands
• Egypt
• Russia

Equivalent third-countries should send Form A to Finanstilsynet. For any questions, see FAQ – Form A.

• Form A
• FAQ – form A

4.3. Other third-countries – Form B

Third-country auditors from other countries than listed above must apply for full registration by Finanstilsynet, and will as a main rule be subject to oversight in Norway in accordance with the provisions of the Norwegian Auditing and Auditors Act.

Other third-countries should send Form B to Finanstilsynet. For any questions, see FAQ – Form B.

• Form B
• FAQ – form B

4.4. Address and registration fee

The completed registration form should be sent by e-mail og mail to:

post@finanstilsynet.no
Finanstilsynet, P.O. Box 1187 Sentrum, NO-0107 Oslo

Currently, the processing fee for the application is NOK 5000. Please include the billing address when submitting the application.

5. Consequences

Audit reports issued by third-country auditors or audit entities not registered in the Member State shall have no legal effect in that Member State.

Registration in the Norwegian third-country auditor register is not an authorisation as statutory auditor or audit entity in Norway.

There is an annual fee for being registered in the register for third-country auditors and audit entities. The annual fee is currently NOK 10 000.

6. Register for third-country auditors and audit entities

• Register for third-country auditors and audit entities