On July 22, 2025, the Law no. 137/2025 was published in the Official Gazette no. 685, approving Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) no. 137/2024. This ordinance brings significant amendments to Law no. 162/2017 on the statutory audit of annual and consolidated financial statements, and also modifies GEO no. 75/1999 on financial audit activities.
Equivalence of Practical and Theoretical Training
By exception, the practical and theoretical training period may be considered equivalent for:
- individuals with at least 15 years of experience in finance, accounting and/or legal fields;
- individuals with minimum 3 years of experience in auditing annual financial statements, including 8 months in sustainability reporting, provided they worked under a statutory auditor;
- PhD supervisors in finance or accounting with at least 5 years of experience.
Other important changes:
- The theoretical training course under art. 7 para. (1) letter b) is automatically recognized if the conditions of art. 11 para. (8) letter a) are met.
- ASPAAS (Authority for Public Oversight of the Statutory Audit Activity) must ensure that trainees are supervised by professionals who provide sufficient guarantees of competency.
- Auditors are reaffirmed as being required to participate in continuing education programs to maintain their professional knowledge and skills.
- The following are now explicitly defined and sanctioned as serious misconduct:
- breach of professional ethics principles;
- lack of audit evidence supporting the issued audit opinion.