Audit Requirements by Sector in Nepal: Banks, NGOs, Insurers & More

Every registered company in Nepal owes the same baseline: one statutory audit a year under the Companies Act 2063. But that's the floor, not the ceiling. Depending on what your business actually does — takes deposits, sells insurance, runs on foreign donations, trades shares on NEPSE — an entire second layer of audit rules can stack on top of it, with its own regulator, its own report format, and its own deadline.

Figure: How sector-specific audit rules stack on top of the standard Companies Act audit.

One Law, Many Overlays

The Companies Act 2063 is the baseline for every registered company in Nepal: appoint an ICAN-licensed auditor, get an annual audit, present it at the AGM, file it with the OCR. But several sectors carry their own regulators and their own laws on top of that baseline, precisely because the risk they pose to depositors, policyholders, donors, or shareholders is higher than an ordinary trading company. Knowing which extra layer applies to your organization — and which regulator actually reads the resulting report — matters just as much as knowing the audit deadline itself.

Banks & Financial Institutions (BAFIA 2073)

Banks and financial institutions (BFIs) are regulated by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) under the Banks and Financial Institutions Act 2073. Beyond the standard annual statutory audit, BFIs face mandatory Information System (IT/IS) audits, reinforced under BAFIA and NRB's IT policy guidelines, to verify system security and integrity in line with standards such as ISO 27001. NRB also requires regular risk-based examinations and quarterly regulatory reporting, on top of the audited annual financial statements prepared under NRB's own prescribed directive formats — which is why bank financial statements typically note that they are "prepared as per Directives issued by Nepal Rastra Bank" rather than purely under general NFRS presentation.

Insurance Companies (Insurance Act 2079)

Insurance companies are regulated by the Insurance Board (Beema Samiti) under the Insurance Act 2079. In addition to the standard statutory audit, insurers face solvency margin audits — verifying the company holds enough capital relative to its underwriting risk — and actuarial audits, where a qualified actuary certifies that reserves for future claims are adequately calculated. This dual-audit structure exists because an insurer's real financial health depends heavily on long-term claim liabilities that a standard financial statement audit alone doesn't fully capture.

NGOs — Companies Act Audit Plus Social Welfare Council Reporting

Non-governmental organizations registered under the Association Registration Act still need an annual audited financial statement, generally required for tax filing purposes under the Income Tax Act 2058. But NGOs and INGOs that receive foreign funding carry a second, separate reporting obligation to the Social Welfare Council (SWC): organizations receiving foreign donations above a defined annual threshold must submit audited accounts to the SWC, alongside quarterly project activity reports and annual financial reports. INGOs face additional layers still, including SWC-mandated annual audits by a Nepal-registered chartered accountant tied to each project agreement, with SWC affiliation itself requiring periodic renewal (commonly every few years) that depends on the organization's audit and reporting track record being current.

Cooperatives — Department of Cooperatives Rules

Cooperatives in Nepal fall under cooperative-specific legislation and are supervised by the Department of Cooperatives (and, for larger federated bodies, national-level cooperative regulatory structures). Annual audits are mandatory for cooperatives regardless of size — there is no small-entity exemption the way there sometimes is under general tax rules. Federation-level and national cooperative bodies face an added transparency requirement: publishing their audited financial statements in national daily newspapers, and many larger cooperatives maintain an internal audit committee that operates continuously through the year to complement the external statutory audit rather than replace it.

Listed / NEPSE Companies (Securities Act 2063)

Companies listed on the Nepal Stock Exchange fall under the Securities Act 2063 and are supervised by the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), on top of their standard Companies Act audit. Listed companies must publish audited annual results within a set period after fiscal year end, and larger listed companies — particularly those in benchmark indices — face quarterly financial reviews in addition to the annual audit. SEBON also requires listed and public companies to draw their auditors from an approved panel in certain cases, and Section 164 of the Companies Act separately mandates an audit committee for any public company with paid-up capital of NPR 30 million or more, or any company fully or partly owned by the Government of Nepal — this committee, chaired by a non-executive director and including at least one qualified accounting/finance member, reviews the audited financials before they even reach the AGM.

Public Enterprises — Office of the Auditor General Oversight

Government-owned corporations, boards, and companies where state equity exceeds roughly 51% follow a fundamentally different audit track altogether. Instead of an ICAN-licensed private-practice chartered accountant, these entities are audited by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) under the Public Enterprises Act 2019 — the same constitutional audit authority responsible for auditing government ministries and agencies. Joint ventures with majority public ownership fall under this framework as well, meaning a private co-investor in such a venture should expect the OAG's audit process and timeline rather than a standard private-sector statutory audit engagement.

Comparison Table: Sector-Specific Audit Overlays

Sector	Extra Regulator	Extra Audit Type	Typical Filing Focus
Banks & BFIs	Nepal Rastra Bank	IT/IS audit, risk-based exam	Quarterly + annual
Insurance	Beema Samiti	Solvency & actuarial audit	Annual + periodic
NGOs / INGOs (foreign funded)	Social Welfare Council	Foreign-fund audited accounts	Annual + quarterly reports
Cooperatives	Dept. of Cooperatives	Mandatory audit, any size	Annual, published if federated
Listed / NEPSE companies	SEBON	Audit committee review, quarterly disclosure	Quarterly + annual
Public enterprises	Office of the Auditor General	OAG audit (not private CA)	Annual, OAG schedule

Conclusion

The Companies Act audit is never optional, but for a meaningful share of Nepali organizations, it's also not the whole story. If your business takes deposits, sells insurance, runs on foreign donations, operates as a cooperative, trades on NEPSE, or is majority government-owned, assume there's a second regulator watching a second, more specific version of the same underlying question: are these numbers actually true. Identifying which overlay applies to you — before your standard audit season begins — saves a scramble later.