The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
(Set up by an Act of Parliament)
(Set up by an Act of Parliament)
Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) is 18-Digits system generated unique number for every document certified/attested by Practicing Chartered Accountants.
To curb the malpractices of certification by non-CAs by impersonating themselves as CAs, the ICAI has come out with an innovative concept of UDIN i.e. Unique Document Identification Number which has been implemented in phased manner. It will secure the certificates/reports/ document attested/certified by practicing CAs. This will also enable the Regulators/Banks/Third parties to check the authenticity of the certificates/reports/documents.
The 18- digits UDIN (YY MMMMMM AANNNAANNN) will be like;
19304576AKTSBN1359
Wherein;
First 2 Digits are YY - Last 2 digits of the Current Year (19 in this case)
Next 6 Digits are MMMMMM – ICAI’s Membership No. (304576 in this case)
Next 10 Digits are AANNNAANNN –Alpha-numeric generated randomly by the system (AKTSBN1359).
There is no fee for registration and generation of UDIN.
UDIN is totally secure as it can be viewed only by the Member and/ or the Regulators / other Stakeholders who are having the UDIN. Secondly, it does not contain any information of the client.
UDIN is to be generated at the time of signing the Certificate. However, the same can be generated within 15 days of the signing of the same (i.e within 15 days from the date mentioned at Certificates and not beyond that)
No document is required to be uploaded for generating UDIN.
It is mandatory to obtain UDIN for all Certificates* where the Financial Information/related contents is certified as True and Fair / True and Correct.
Members’ attention is drawn that AASB (Auditing and Assurance Standard Board) of ICAI has already issued Guidance Note on Reports or Certificates for Special Purposes (Revised 2016) with illustrative formats, to be followed by the Practicing Chartered Accountants. A dropdown illustrative list as below is appearing on the Portal from which the Member can select the certificate they are going to issue. In case the certificate is not matching with the list provided, he is advised to select “Others” and mention the nomenclature of the Certificate under “Document Description”.
*Certificates includes Reports issued in lieu of a Certificate in terms of Guidance Note on Reports or Certificates for Special Purposes (Revised 2016)
Non-applicability of UDIN can be listed out but the list is not exhaustive. Like in the 1st phase, requirement of obtaining UDIN was Not Applicable for below but the same has been made mandatory w.e.f. 01st of July, 2019:
All Practicing CAs having full-time Certificate of Practice (CoP) can only register on the UDIN portal to generate UDIN.
All Practicing CAs having full time CoP has to generate UDIN after registering on UDIN Portal.
No. Only CAs with full-time Certificate of Practice can register on UDIN portal to generate UDIN.
No,UDIN is not required for certified true copies.
No,Only signing Partner has to generate UDIN.
No, only members of ICAI having full-time Certificate of Practice can register on UDIN Portal.
Only the Partner/ Proprietor signing the document for such assignment will have to generate UDIN. In case, more than one Partner has signed for that assignment, then all such signing partners have to generate UDIN separately.
UDIN will be applicable both for manually as well as digitally signed Certificates / uploaded online. In case of digitally signed / online certificates like MCA, ROC, RBI certificate/reports, UDIN has to be generated and retained for providing the same on being asked by any third party/ authority.
UDIN is to be generated once only for Original Certificates. In case, duplicate certificate is being issued on the request of the client, same UDIN is to be mentioned.
UDIN is to be generated for all Certificates that are signed on or after 1st Feb., 2019.
Only Practicing CAs with full time CoP can register on the UDIN portal and can generate a UDIN.
No.Since part-time COP holders cannot certify the documents. Hence, they have no access to UDIN portal.
Yes, it is mandatory for all Certificates w.e.f. 1st February., 2019.
To register on UDIN, please follow the below steps:
Step 1: Click “Member Registration” or click at “For first time sign up, click here”
Step 2: Registration window will be opened. After entering Six-digits Membership No., Date of Birth and Year of Enrolment please click “Send OTP”. An OTP will be sent to the registered Mobile and Email of the Member.
Step 3: On confirmation of OTP as received, a Username and Password will be sent to the registered Email and Mobile No.
For generating UDIN, a member has to register on UDIN Portal for the first time compulsorily. Thereafter, he can just login and generate UDIN. Members who have already registered on UDIN Portal under recommendatory stage are not required to register again after UDIN being mandatory.
Step 1: Go to udin.icai.org, login by entering Username and Password.
Step 2: Click “Generate UDIN” from the menu bar.
Please Select Document type from the drop down menu.
Enter Date of Signing Document i.e. the date of signing/ certifying the document.
Then Enter 2 Financial Figures i.e. any Financial Figures from the document such as Turnover/Net Worth etc.
Then Enter the Description of the Figure i.e. Turnover/ Net Worth etc. to be filled in 10 to 50 characters.
Two Financial Figures are mandatory out of 3 (three) given fields. In case, there is no Financial Figure in the Certificate, Zero (0) is to be mentioned in Financial Figure and in its Particulars mention “There is no Financial Figure in Certificate”.
Then please Select Document Description and enter the description/ details about the Certificate in 15 to 50 characters.
Then Click the button “Send OTP”.
After this an OTP will be received on Registered Mobile and Email of the Member.
Then Enter OTP as received and click “Preview”. In Preview details entered for generating the UDIN will be displayed. If there is any change/error in the content, click “Back” button, or else, click “Submit”.
Thereafter, 18 Digit UDIN will be generated and that UDIN can be used for mentioning on the Certificate for which it has been generated either by printing (watermarked) the same or by handwritten or printed. If it is being handwritten or printed, it can be mentioned after Signatures and Membership Number of the Member.
The password generated by the system is encrypted to ensure the appropriate safety. However, interested Members may change the password at any time through “Change Password” button.
On confirmation of the OTP as received, an Username and Password will be sent to the registered email and Mobile No.
Step 1: Go to https://udin.icai.org.
Step 2: Click “Forgot Password”.
Step 3: “Forgot Password” form will be opened, enter six-digit Membership No., Date of Birth and Year of Enrolment and click “Send OTP”. An OTP will be sent on registered mobile and email.
Step 4: Enter the OTP as received and click “Continue”.
On confirmation OTP as received, a Username and password will be sent to the registered email and Mobile No
For generating UDIN, the Document type is to be selected. Thereafter, date of signing the document is to be mentioned. There are 3 fields for entering the financial figures / values from the document and the description of the figure/ value so entered. Out of these, 2 fields are mandatory. In case, there is no financial figure / value available in the document, 0 (zero) is to be mentioned and in description it should be clarified that no financial figure / value is available.
No details of the Client is to be mentioned anywhere on UDIN Portal.
The date on which the Document is signed/ certified by the member is to be mentioned under this head.
“Document Description” is the details of the document for which the UDIN is being generated and is to be filled between 15 to 50 characters.
Any Financial Figure and its particular from the document such as Turnover, Net worth etc. for which UDIN is being generated is to be mentioned under Financial Figures and Particulars. The particular is to be filled between 10 to 50 characters only.
Two Financial Figures are mandatory out of three fields. In case, there is no financial figure in the document being certified, 0 is to be mentioned in Financial Figure and in its particular please mention “There is no Financial Figure in Document”.
In case, there are more fields in the document which if felt to be included for generation of UDIN, the same can be added by using “Add More”.
UDIN once generated cannot be edited. A preview option is available after entering all details for generating UDIN for verifying its correctness before Generation.
In such case(s), UDIN can be revoked by mentioning the reason. Further, there is no time limit for allowing revocation.
Yes, UDIN generated by the members can be tracked through “Search” from your UDIN account
The UDIN once generated can be revoked or cancelled with narration. If any user had searched that UDIN before revocation, an alert message will go to him about revocation of the UDIN. After revocation of the UDIN, anybody searches for that UDIN, appropriate narration indicated by Member with the date of revocation will be displayed for that revoked UDIN.
UDIN can be revoked on clicking revoke UDIN. The UDIN to be revoked is to be selected from the list. Assign the reason for revokation. Submit through OTP.
It will happen only when the credentials do not match with the member's profile as per SSP database of ICAI. In such cases, the query may be lodged at UDIN portal.
In UDIN Portal, the details of Members are fetched from ICAI records in SSP Portal. In case, any member wants to update his Mobile No. and / or Email-id, he has to update the same first at SSP Portal (Self Service Portal) at the link https://cdn3.digialm.com/EForms/configuredHtml/1666/57499/Registration.html?action=existing. Only after the approval of these details at SSP, these will be updated at UDIN Portal from SSP Portal.
No. UDIN is to be generated for Assignment wise and same UDIN is to be used in all documents signed under that assignment. Say for Example while signing the various certificates while doing Bank Audit, same UDIN can be used for all certificates to be signed for that particular Bank Audit Assignment.
There is no limit on generation of UDIN and there is no restriction on the number of UDIN to be generated.
UDIN shall be mentioned after every Signature and Membership Number of the Member.
There is no need for fresh registration for every financial year.
No, separate UDIN is required for each assignment and is to be used for all documents issued under that assignment.
A provision for generating UDIN in bulk for Certificates has been incorporated in UDIN Portal. Using this facility, the members will be able to generate UDIN in bulk (uptil 300 UDINs) for various types of Certificates in one go. It can be done through uploading of excel file.
Process for Bulk UDIN
UDIN has no connection with Member’s Digital Signature and therefore no changes are required in Digital Signature.
There is no option to generate UDIN in advance. However there is option given to generate UDIN within 15 days of signing of the certificate.
Generated UDIN has no expiry unless revoked.
UDIN generation has been made mandatory as per the Council Decision hence not generating UDIN for mandatory documents will amount to non-adherence of the Council Decision and may attract disciplinary proceedings as per the Second Schedule Part II of The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949.
The UDIN can be verified through the “Verify UDIN” on UDIN Portal by following below steps:
No Registration is required for regulator/third party to search the certificate. For searching the UDIN regulator/third party has to mention UDIN number, Mobile number, email ID and Name of the authorities searching UDIN.
All Regulators / Stakeholders like RBI, SEBI, CBDT, CBIC, RERA, MCA, IBA etc. can ask for UDIN as it has become mandatory to generate UDIN by every full time practising member vide 379th Council Meeting dated 17th and 18th December 2018. ICAI has also approached various Regulators informing about the UDIN mandate and requested them to insist upon UDIN on all documents certified by CAs.
No, since UDIN has to be generated per Assignment per Signatory on a given date, so one UDIN will suffice for the Bank Audit Report including LFAR and Certificates. However, separate UDIN will be required for Tax Audit Report being separate assignment.
Since Certificates are the part of Bank Audit assignment and are issued with Bank Audit Report along with LFAR, one UDIN will suffice and no separate UDIN is required to be generated for Certificates.
However, while generating UDIN, the details of multiple reports and certificates can be entered by “Add more” button.
Yes, Separate UDIN will be required as UDIN has to be generated per Assignment per Signatory on a given date.
If different partners are signing different certificates / reports then separate UDINs have to be taken as UDIN is to be generated per signatory.
Yes, UDIN is applicable to both SCAs and SBAs for Bank (Branch) Audit Report and Tax Audit Reports while conducting Bank (Branch) Audit.
UDIN will be applicable both for manually as well as digitally signed Reports uploaded online.
Yes. All the signing Auditors have to obtain UDIN separately and mention their UDINs individually on the reports signed by them. Auditors may use the same or different keywords/figures while generating such UDINs.
As directed by the 379th ICAI Council Meeting held on 17th and 18th December, 2018 UDIN is mandatory for all Tax Audit Reports issued under IT Act, 1961 and GST Audit Reports issued under CGST Act, 2017 with effect from 1st April, 2019
UDIN will be applicable both for manually as well as digitally signed Reports (like MCA Forms, 15CB) which are uploaded online. In case of no field for mentioning UDIN on digitally signed online reports, UDIN has to be generated and retained for providing the same on being asked by the stakeholders.
For generating UDIN, the “Document type” is to be selected as “GST & Tax Audit”. Thereafter, date of signing of Report is to be mentioned.
Relevant Section of Income Tax Act, 1961 is to be chosen under the Heading “Particulars of Section / Form under which Report issued” from the drop-down box which contains an illustrative list.
For reports issued under any other section of IT Act, 1961 which is not appearing in the list, UDIN can be generated by choosing “Other Report under IT Act, 1961” and mention the details under “Document Description”
Thereafter, the key fields “Figure/Value/Description” are to be filled for generating UDIN.
For generating UDIN, the “Document type” is to be selected as “GST & Tax Audit”. Thereafter, date of signing of Report is to be mentioned.
Relevant Section of Central Goods & Services Act, 2017 is to be chosen under the Heading “Particulars of Section / Form under which Report issued” from the drop-down box which contains an illustrative list.
For reports issued under any other section of Central Goods & Services Act, 2017 which is not appearing in the list, UDIN can be generated by choosing “Other Report under CGST Act, 2017” and mention the details under “Document Description”
Thereafter, the key fields “Figure/Value/Description” are to be filled for generating UDIN.
In case where there is no figure/value available in the report related to above mandatory key fields from Sl. No. 1 to 3, mention “0”. The Assessment Year at Sl. No. 4 is to be filled in YYYY-YYYY format. In case, there is no FRN at Sl. No. 5 mention “Not Applicable/NA” and proceed.
Apart from above, one additional key field of PAN is there which is optional.
After this there is one more mandatory field as Document Description wherein text between 15 to 50 Characters from some portion of the report has to be mandatorily filled.
The Assessment Year is to be filled in YYYY-YYYY format. In case, there is no FRN at Sl. No. 2 mention “Not Applicable/NA” and proceed. For 3rd Mandatory field some Figure/Value from report has to be mentioned. In case, there is no figure/value available in the report related to key fields at Sl. No. 3, mention “0” and proceed.
Apart from these, there are 3 additional key fields including PAN of the Assessee which are optional.
After this there is one more mandatory field as Document Description wherein text between 15 to 50 Characters from some portion of the report has to mandatorily filled.
In case where there is no figure available in the form related to above mandatory key fields from Sl. No. 1 to 2, mention “0”. The Assessment Year at Sl. No. 3 is to be filled in YYYY-YYYY format. In case, there is no FRN as at Sl. No. 4, mention “Not Applicable/NA” and proceed.
Apart from the above, there are 2 more key fields including GSTIN of the Assessee which are optional.
There is one more mandatory field as Document Description wherein text between 15 to 50 Characters from some portion of the report has to mandatorily filled.
In case where there is no figure available in the form related to above mandatory key fields from Sl. No. 1 to 2, mention “0”. The Assessment Year at Sl. No. 3 is to be filled in YYYY-YYYY format. In case, there is no FRN as at Sl. No. 4 mention “Not Applicable/NA” and proceed.
Apart from the above, there are 2 more key fields including GSTIN of the Assessee which are optional.
There is one more mandatory field as Document Description wherein text between 15 to 50 Characters from some portion of the report has to mandatorily filled.
No, UDIN has to be generated per assignment per signatory, hence, one UDIN to be generated and same UDIN to be mentioned in all the Forms such as 3CA/ 3CB and 3CD.
Separate UDINs are not required. As UDIN has to be generated per assignment per signatory, hence, one UDIN is to be generated which can be mentioned in all Annexures, if they are part of the Reports.
UDIN can be generated till 15 days of signing the document. Further, it may be noted that UDIN generation is being made mandatory as per the Council Decision hence not generating UDIN will amount to non-adherence of the Council Decision and may attract disciplinary proceedings as per clause (1) of Part II of Second Schedule of The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949.
Only Full time Practising Chartered Accountants with Active status can sign /attest documents and hence are allowed to register on UDIN Portal and generate UDIN.
In case of a firm, only signing partner can generate UDIN and no one else on behalf of another can generate UDIN.
The FRN of the Firm on behalf of which the member is signing the Report has to be mentioned. In case there is no FRN as Member is signing in his / her individual capacity, “Not Applicable/NA” to be mentioned against FRN.
As per the decision of the Council taken at its 379th Meeting, UDIN has been made mandatory in following phases:
Henceforth from 1st July, 2019 onwards UDIN is mandatory on all Audit, Assurance and Attestation functions rendered by full-time Practicing Chartered Accountants.
It includes engagement as per Standards on Auditing (SAs), Review Engagements as per Standards on Review Engagements (SREs), Other Assurance Services as per Standards on Assurance Engagements (SAEs) /Guidance Note on Reports or Certificates for Special Purposes and other Engagements as per Standards on Related Services (SRSs) and any Assurance services rendered by Full Time Practising Chartered Accountants.
To know more about details of these engagements, please visit at link https://www.icai.org/new_post.html?post_id=450
For generating UDIN, the “Document type” is to be selected as “Audit & Assurance Functions”. Thereafter, “Type of Audit” is to be selected from the dropdown list based on the assignment. The Act/ Statute/ Law under which the assignment is being carried is to be selected from the dropdown list under the caption “Under Act / Law / Statute / Regulation”.
In case the assignment is not included in the dropdown lists of “Type of Audit”, “Any other Audit not covered above” can be selected and details regarding Assignment can be mentioned under Document Description.
In case the law/Act is not included in the dropdown lists of “Under Act / Law / Statute / Regulation”, “Other Act / Regulation /Law / Statute not covered above” can be selected and details regarding Law can be mentioned under Document Description.
Once the date of signing the document is mentioned, the key fields are to be filled for generating UDIN.
After this there is one more mandatory field as Document Description wherein text between 15 to 50 Characters from some portion of the report has to be mandatorily filled.
In this field, the period for which the engagement is accepted is to be mentioned.
Under the Keyword “Shareholders Fund/ Owner’s Fund” figures appearing under Owner Funds / Shareholding / Capital Investment / Equity Share / Equity Interests / Share Ownership / Capital Account / Partners’ Capital /Capital Providers / Stockholder / Venture Capitalists /Own Capital / Endowment Fund/ Corpus Fund /General Fund etc. inclusive of Reserve and Surplus is to be mentioned irrespective of the term used in the Financial Statement.
Members are advised to mention the figure against this keyword as applicable under the respective Statutes while generating UDIN.
Under the Keyword “Gross Turnover/Gross Receipts”, figure appearing under Gross Turnover/Gross Income/ Gross Proceeds/ Gross Earnings/ Gross Receipts/ Gross Sales/ Gross Revenue etc. is to be mentioned irrespective of the term used in the Financial Statements.
Under the Keyword “Net Block of Property, Plant & Equipment”, figure appearing under Total of Net Block of Fixed Asset that are held for use in the production or supply of goods or services, for rental to others, or for administrative purposes; and are expected to be used during more than a period of twelve months such as machinery, equipment, vehicles, buildings, land, office space, office equipment, and furnishings etc. after depreciation is to be mentioned irrespective of the term used in the Financial Statements.
Members are advised to mention the figure against this keyword as applicable under the respective Statutes while generating UDIN.
In this field, the major observation made by the auditor either Adverse or Favourable is to be mentioned. Corresponding Financial Implication either negative or positive is also to be mentioned. In case of no Financial Implication, please mention Nil/Zero.
Under the Keyword Cash and Cash equivalents (CCE) the most liquid current assets found on a business's balance sheet, all Cash equivalents i.e short-term commitments "with temporarily idle cash and easily convertible into a known cash amount is to be included. Any investment which has a short maturity period i.e 90 days or less is to be included.
Members are advised to mention the figure against this keyword as applicable under the respective Statutes while generating UDIN.
In this field, the name of any major type of Fuel (energy) used such as water, electricity energy, steam etc. is to be mentioned. Its consumption in Units is to be mentioned.
In this field, the Valuation Method such as Comparable Companies Multiple (CCM) Method, Comparable Transaction Multiple (CTM) Method, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Method, etc is to be mentioned.
No, UDIN has to be mentioned on Audit Reports.
From 1st July, 2019 onwards, since UDIN is mandatory on all sorts of Audit, Assurance, Attest and Review services as mentioned at Question no. 2, UDIN is required for all Management Services.
One UDIN per assignment signature affixed at a time is required. In other words, in case where reports / certificates/ documents of an assignment are signed and submitted periodically or at different point of time such as Concurrent Audits/ Limited Review / Quarterly Review Reports etc. separate UDINs are to be generated.
In case of NBFC Audit also separate UDIN is required for Audit Report and Certificates issued from time to time during the year even if accepted as one assignment.
In case of joints audits, all the signing Auditors have to obtain UDIN separately and mention their UDINs individually on the reports signed by them. Auditors may use the same or different keywords/figures while generating such UDINs.
The FRN of the Firm on behalf of which the member is signing the Report has to be mentioned. In case there is no FRN as Member is signing in his / her individual capacity, “Not Applicable/NA” to be mentioned against FRN.
UDIN is applicable both for manually as well as digitally signed Reports/ Certificates/ Documents which are uploaded online like MCA Forms, Form 15 CB etc. In case of no field for mentioning UDIN on digitally signed online reports, UDIN has to be generated and retained for providing the same on being asked by the stakeholders.
It is mandatory to generate UDIN while signing the Audit Reports / Certificates / Document. However, if any member is unable to generate UDIN as desired above, it has to generate within 15 days of signing the same. The UDIN so generated has be communicated to “Management” or “Those Charged with Governance” for disseminating it to the stakeholders from their end. Not generating UDIN for mandatory documents will amount to non-adherence of the Council Decision and may attract disciplinary proceedings as per the Second Schedule Part II of The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949
Yes, separate UDINs are required for audit of Financial Statements and Tax Audit because both are separate assignments and True and Fair view is given for Financial Statements and true and Correct view is given for Tax Audit assignment.
Yes, UDIN is required for practising CAs registered as Valuer / Insolvency Professional on their Reports.
UDIN is not required on NOC from previous Auditor.
UDIN is not required on Peer Review Report.
Yes, UDIN is required to be generated by Component Auditor also.
Yes, UDIN is required for consolidation of Financial Statements. However separate UDINs are required for standalone and Consolidated Financial Statements.
As per clause (3) of part-I of Second Schedule to the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, a member in practice will be deemed to be guilty of professional misconduct if he engages in estimation of earnings contingent upon future transaction in a manner which may lead to the belief that he vouches for the accuracy of the forecast.
As per opinion of the Council, a Chartered Accountant can participate in the preparation of profit or financial forecasts and can review them, provided he indicates clearly in his report the sources of information, the basis of forecasts and also the major assumptions made in arriving at the forecasts and so long as he does not vouch for the accuracy of the forecasts. The member has to comply with SAE 3400 while drafting the report for such engagements and has to obtain UDIN for the same.
Standard on Related Services (SRS) 4410 “Compilation Engagements” deals with the concept. Provisional Financial Statements / Compilation of Information may be prepared as per this standard. The purpose of this Standard is to establish standards on professional responsibilities of an accountant when an engagement to compile financial statements or other financial information is undertaken and the form and content of the report to be issued in connection with such a compilation so that the association of the name of the accountant with such financial statements or financial information is not misconstrued by a user of those statements or information as having been audited by him.
The member has to comply with SRS 4410 while preparing Provisional Financial Statements / Compilation of Information and has to obtain UDIN for the same.
It is mandatory to generate UDIN while signing the Audit Reports / Certificates / Document. However, if any member is unable to generate UDIN as desired above, it has to generated within 15 days of signing the same. The UDIN so generated has be communicated to “Management” or “Those Charged with Governance” for disseminating it to the stakeholders from their end.
UDIN is required to be generated for the Audit Report of the Financial Statements of Non-Corporate entities which are not subject to Audit, prepared in accordance with General Purpose Compliance Framework.
Members are also advised to refer Illustration 5 given in SA 700 in this regard.
If Member is practising in his/her Individual name and there is no FRN, Member can mention NA/Not Applicable at the place of FRN.
No. UDIN is not required for such attestation.
The figures of the closing date of the Financial Year (Audit / Engagement Period) or the reporting date (as on date) as the case may be, should be filled in the key fields while generating UDIN.
Those Members whose Mobile no and Email Ids are not updated at SSP Portal (Self Service Portal newly launched by ICAI) will not be able to generate UDIN.
It generally takes 3 working days for updation of Mobile and Email at UDIN portal from the date of updation of Members data at SSP Portal as UDIN portal is taking updated data of Member from SSP Portal at periodical intervals. Therefore, Members are advised to do update their data at SSP Portal if not updated till date and register at UDIN Portal as soon as possible to avoid last minute inconvenience.
UDIN is not required for such certification.
Members can submit their query online on the help desk tab on Menu bar available at https://udin.icai.org or can email at udin@icai.in. Members can alternatively call at 011-30110480.