The Auditing Act specifies the circumstances when an auditor must be used.
If the Partnership Agreement of the general partnership or the limited partnership, allow partnerships that meet no more than one of the following conditions in both the closing accounting period and in the accounting period preceding it may neglect the appointment of an auditor:
1) the balance sheet total exceeds 100,000 Euro,
2) net sales or corresponding earning exceed 200,000 Euro or
3) there are more than three employees on average. |
The obligation to appoint an auditor also applies to a general and limited partnership launching operations if the general and limited partnership already has business operations that meet the conditions for auditing obligation in the launching stage.
If the Partnership Agreement does not contain any regulations on auditors, and no more than one of the conditions mentioned above are met, the partnership has not an obligation to appoint an auditor.
With the new Auditing Act lay auditors are no longer used. Partnerships founded after the law has entered into force (1 July 2007) may not elect lay auditors (other than KHT or HTM auditors) any more.
The partnership agreement may, however, stipulate that the partnership shall have one or more than one auditor. The partners participating in the election of the auditor may also elect one or more deputy auditors. In a general partnership the auditor is elected by the partners, and in a limited partnership by the general partners with a unanimous decision, unless otherwise agreed.
The auditor must be separately elected for each accounting period, unless the term of office has been stipulated in the partnership agreement. The auditor's term of office ends after the delivery of an auditor's report for the last accounting period during his/her term of office. If an auditor has been appointed until further notice, the term of office ends when a new auditor is appointed.
