(1) A person shall not knowingly consent to be appointed, and shall not knowingly act, as auditor for any company and shall not prepare, for or on behalf of a company, any report required by this Act to be prepared by an approved company auditor—
(a) if he is not an approved company auditor;
(b) if he is indebted to the company or to a corporation that is deemed to be related to that company by virtue of section 6 in an amount exceeding two thousand five hundred ringgit;
(c) if he is—
(i) an officer of the company;
(ii) a partner, employer or employee of an officer of the company;
(iii) a partner or employee of an employee of an officer of the company; or
(iv) a shareholder or his spouse is a shareholder of a corporation whose employee is an officer of the company; or
(d) if he is responsible for or if he is the partner, employer or employee of a person responsible for the keeping of the register of members or the register of holders of debentures of the company.
Penalty: *Thirty thousand ringgit.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person shall be deemed to be an officer of a company if he is an officer of a corporation that is deemed to be related to the company by virtue of section 6 or except where the Minister if he thinks fit in the circumstances of the case directs otherwise, if he has, at any time within the preceding period of twelve months, been an officer or promoter of the company or of such a corporation.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a person shall not be deemed to be an officer by reason only of his having been appointed as auditor of a corporation.
(4) A firm shall not knowingly consent to be appointed, and shall not knowingly act, as auditor for any company and shall not prepare, for or on behalf of a company, any report required by this Act to be prepared by an approved company auditor unless—
(a) all the partners of the firm resident in Malaysia are approved company auditors and, where the firm is not registered as a firm under any law for the time being in force, a return showing the full names and addresses of all the partners of the firm has been lodged with the Registrar; and
(b) no partner is disqualified under paragraph (1)(b), (c) or
(d) from acting as the auditor of the company.
(5) If a firm contravenes subsection (4) each partner of the firm shall be guilty of an offence.
Penalty: *Thirty thousand ringgit.
(6) No company or person shall appoint a person as auditor of a company unless that last-mentioned person has prior to the appointment consented in writing to act as such auditor, and no company or person shall appoint a firm as auditor of a company unless the firm has prior to the appointment consented, in writing under the hand of at least one partner of the firm, to act as such auditor.
(7) The appointment of a firm in the name of the firm as auditors of a company shall take effect and operate as an appointment as auditors of the company of the persons who are members of that firm at the time of the appointment.