Section 311, The Companies Act, 2009

(1) It shall be the duty of the company’s auditors, inpreparing their report, to carry out such investigations as may enable them to form an opinion as to the following matters:– (a) whether proper accounting records have been kept by the company and proper returns adequate for their audit have been received from branches not visited by them; and (b) whether the company’s balance sheet and (if not consolidated) its profit and loss account are in agreement with the accounting records and returns. (2) If the auditors are of the opinion that proper accounting records have not been received from branches not visited by them, or if the balance sheet and (if not consolidated ) the profit and loss account are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns, the auditors shall state that fact in their report. (3) Every auditor of a company shall have a right of access at all times to the company’s books, accounts and vouchers, and be entitled to require from the company’s office such information and explanations as he thinks necessary for the performance of the auditor’s duties. (4) If the requirements of Part IV of the Third Schedule are not complied with in the accounts, it shall be the auditors’ duty to include in their report, so far as they are reasonably able to do so, a statement giving the required particulars. (5) It shall be the auditors’ duty to consider whether the information given in the director’s report for the year for which the accounts are prepared is consistent with those accounts; and if they are of opinion that it is not, they shall state that fact in their report.