Grant Thornton replaces Ernst & Young as Cipla auditors
The Cipla Quality Chemical Industries Limited (CiplaQCIL) is now banking on Global Fund’s order of $6.7 million (Shs24.7b) to offset the Shs26.5 billion sale reduction from Zambia.
KAMPALA-Grant Thornton Uganda, an audit firm, has been appointed as new external auditors for Cipla Quality Chemicals Limited, a pharmaceutical company, replacing Ernst & Young, which has served the company since inception.
The decision was confirmed on Wednesday by shareholders during the annual general meeting at the company’s factory in Luzira, Kampala.
Unlike Ernst & Young which enjoyed an uninterrupted tenure,-Grant Thornton Uganda’s contract will be reviewed at the end of Cipla’s current financial year in March 2020.
The directors agreed that external auditors will be rotated to ensure independence.
But Mr Emmanuel Katongole, the Cipla Quality Chemicals executive director, said had it not been the will of his fellow directors, he would have continued working with the auditing firm.
During the meeting, Cipla Quality Chemicals Limited also told shareholders that the company’s revenue reduced significantly because the Global Fund, their biggest client for malarial and antiretroviral drugs, resorted to preventive measures and cut its consumption from Shs92.3 billion
$25 million to Shs9 billion ($2.5 million) in the previous financial year.
However, the company’s chief executive officer, Mr Nevin Bradford, assured shareholders of a better year because in 2019, Global Fund has already made orders worth Shs29.2 million ($8 million).
Cipla Quality Chemicals Limited has also sealed a deal with the US President's Malaria Initiative to supply malarial drugs to Rwanda and Myanmar for the next three years.
