Barely three months before IL&FS Group companies ran into trouble with the first default on August 28, 2018, SRBC & Co LLC (an arm of Ernst and Young), auditor to IL&FS Transportation Networks India Limited (ITNL), decided to exclude notes on the company’s ability to continue operations indefinitely, which in accounting language is referred to as a going concern principle.
According to the Grant Thornton forensic audit report, SRBC & Co LLC had earlier taken a decision to make such qualifications in its audit report for 2017-18. But following a meeting with IL&FS and ITNL management, it did not include this in the Emphasis of Matter (EoM) paragraph.
