Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) A company, the directors of a company or the responsible entity of a registered scheme must not appoint an individual, firm or company as auditor of the company unless that individual, firm or company:
(a) has consented, before the appointment, to act as auditor; and
(b) has not withdrawn that consent before the appointment is made.
For the purposes of this section, a consent, or the withdrawal of a consent, must be given by written notice to the company, the directors or the responsible entity of the scheme.
(2) A notice under subsection (1) given by a firm must be signed by a member of the firm who is a registered company auditor both:
(a) in the firm name; and
(b) in his or her own name.
(3) A notice under subsection (1) given by a company must be signed by a director or senior manager of the company both:
(a) in the company's name; and
(b) in his or her own name.
(4) If a company, the directors of a company or the responsible entity of a registered scheme appoints an individual, firm or company as auditor of a company in contravention of subsection (1):
(a) the purported appointment does not have any effect; and
(b) the company or responsible entity, and any officer of the company or responsible entity who is in default, are each guilty of an offence.
Note: An officer of a company, or of a responsible entity, is in default if the officer is involved in the contravention of subsection (1) by the company, the company's directors or the entity: see the definitions of in default and involved in section 9.