Companies under the supervision of the Superintendency of Companies, Securities and Insurance (SCVS) are required to engage an external audit when the total assets reported in their statement of financial position for the previous fiscal year, as of December 31, exceed the thresholds indexed to Unified Basic Salaries (SBU) set for each case. The threshold is 273 SBU for branches of foreign companies, mixed economy companies, and domestic companies with the participation of public institutions or of social law or private law entities with social purposes; and 1,366 SBU for private domestic companies, such as corporations (sociedades anónimas), limited liability companies, simplified stock corporations (S.A.S.), and partnerships limited by shares. Companies required to file consolidated financial statements must engage an external audit on a mandatory basis, regardless of the amount of their assets.

Pursuant to Article 321 of the Companies Law, the external audit agreement for fiscal year 2026 must be executed no later than today, September 30, the date on which the deadline expires. Once signed, the company has a maximum period of 30 days from the date of execution to notify the SCVS by uploading the agreement to the institutional portal of this regulatory authority.

The agreement is uploaded online, free of charge, and 24 hours a day. To do so, the independent auditor or audit firm must be registered and hold a valid credential in the National Registry of External Auditors (RNAE) of the SCVS. The scanned agreement must be uploaded exclusively in PDF format, digitized in black and white, at a resolution of 300 dpi, and with a file size not exceeding 150 KB per page. Additionally, the scope of the contracted work must include the assessment of the anti-money laundering and financing of crimes prevention system, in accordance with Resolution SCVS-INC-DNCDN-2024-0005.

Failure to engage the external audit in a timely manner, or failure to give notice of it on the SCVS portal, constitutes a violation of the Companies Law. This may result in fines imposed by the regulatory authority and in difficulties obtaining the Certificate of Compliance with Obligations (CCO), a document that is essential for the company to operate commercially and legally in the country.

Companies subject to this obligation are advised to verify in advance that the auditor or audit firm holds a valid registration with the RNAE, and to prepare the digital file of the agreement in accordance with the technical specifications required by the platform, so that the upload can be completed within the established deadline.