Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) by CA

source: Taxontips

The attestation of a Chartered Accountant on a certificate or any such document is of immense value since it usually signifies that the Chartered Accountant, in his professional opinion, has ensured that there is no misrepresentation by the entity issuing/submitting such a document. A prime example of this being an audit report issued by the auditor in respect of the financial statements of an entity stating the financial statements reflect a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the entity. It is because of this attestation or signature made by the Chartered Accountant that the investors and other stakeholders can rely on the performance of an entity.

What is UDIN?

In order to prevent businesses/ clients from the fraudulent acts of non-CAs, practicing and certifying as CAs, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has come up with the concept of UDIN.

Primarily, UDIN secures certificates, reports, documents, etc. certified by the practicing CAs. Additionally, it enables regulators, banks as well as third parties to check the genuineness of the issued certificates, reports, documents, etc.

The present article highlights each and every point which one needs to know about UDIN. Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) is a unique number given to documents attested by Chartered Accountants in Practice. It is an 18 digits system generated unique number which shall generated separately for each document.

Implementation and Format of UDIN-

UDIN is an abbreviation of ‘Unique Document Identification Number’. The same is introduced in a phase-wise manner as follows-

Further, it is an 18 digits long system generated number. The formation of UDIN is explained in the table below-

The UDIN’s 18-digit alphanumeric number depicts as follows:

• The first two digits represent the last 2 digits of the current year (For instance, 19 for the year 2019).

• The next 6 digits will be the membership number of the CA Member.

• The next 10 digits are alphanumeric digits randomly generated by the system.

Applicability

ICAI has mandated all CA in practice to obtain UDIN for all the certificates issued by them if the Financial information or any other content is certified as depicting a True and Fair view. The CA firms cannot register themselves on the UDIN portal. Chartered Accountants having full-time Certificate of Practice can register on UDIN Portal and generate UDIN by registering the certificates attested/certified by them.

UDIN is being made mandatory from 1st July, 2019 on all Corporate/ Non- Corporate Audit, Attest and Assurance Functions.

The UDIN generated by CA can be searched in online UDIN portal through search option by giving the Name, Contact and Email id of the person requesting the information. This will ensure the authenticity of the documents being certified by the CA members and can be relied upon by Stakeholders, Banking and various other regulating authorities.

How to Register on the UDIN portal?

Before generating UDIN, one needs to first obtain registration on the UDIN site. Steps for obtaining the registration are stated hereunder-

STEP 1 – Visit site https://udin.icai.org/.

STEP 2 – Click ‘First time Sign Up? Click Here’ available on the right-hand side of the page.

STEP 3 – Enter the following details-

• Membership Number,

• Date of Birth, and

• Year of Enrolment.

STEP 4 – Send OTP.

STEP 5 – OTP will be received on the mobile number and e-mail ID registered with ICAI. Enter the OTP received and click ‘Continue’.

On following the above steps, ‘username’ and system generated ‘password’ will be received on the registered mobile number and e-mail ID.

HOW UDIN can be generated?

Post registration on UDIN site, one needs to follow the below steps for generation of UDIN-

STEP 1 – Visit site https://udin.icai.org/.

STEP 2 – Enter appropriate ‘Username’ and ‘Password’. Enter Captcha and click ‘Login’.

STEP 3 – Select the ‘Generate UDIN’ option.

STEP 4 – Select document type from the drop-down list.

STEP 5 – Enter requisite details like-

• Client Reference Code/ Number,

• Date of a document,

• Document issued,

• Document description,

• Keyword/values within the document, etc.

STEP 6 – Click ‘Send OTP’ and OTP will be received on the registered mobile number and e-mail ID.

STEP 7 – Enter the OTP and click the ‘Preview’ option.

STEP 8 – Click ‘Submit’ to generate UDIN.

What does UDIN depict? When the CA in practice has to generate UDIN?

The UDIN has to be generated within 15 days from the date of signing or attesting the documents by the CA in practice and it cannot be done beyond 15 days from the date of signing.

Limit on generation of UDIN

The council has not put any limit on the number of UDIN a CA can generate. Further the generated UDIN shall not have any expiry unless revoked by the authority.