About these certificates
The fourteen purposes the Handbook names without drafting: how each is built, and the assurance it gives.
The ICAI Handbook on Certificates names about fifty purposes — in its Chapter 1 tables of what banks and tendering authorities ask for, and in the UDIN list — but drafts formats for only twelve. OptiCertificate builds the other fourteen on the Guidance Note on Reports or Certificates for Special Purposes (Revised 2016). These cards are marked Built on ICAI Guidance Note.
How each is built
Every one of these certificates carries what the Guidance Note and the Handbook's checklist require:
- a named addressee — never "to whomsoever it may concern", which the checklist rules out
- what is certified, and who prepared it
- the responsibility of Management (or of the individual)
- your responsibility, and the level of assurance
- compliance with the Guidance Note, the Code of Ethics and SQC 1
- for limited assurance, the procedures you performed
- an Opinion (reasonable assurance) or a Conclusion (limited assurance)
- the restriction on use
The structure follows the nearest format ICAI does draft: turnover certificates follow Annexure III(ix), net worth certificates III(ii), and the fund utilisation certificate the grant formats' sources-and-application Statement. Where a law or regulator sets the criteria, the certificate cites it — the MSMED Act for MSME status, the RBI's KYC directions for a proprietorship. The wording is OptiCertificate's own.
The level of assurance matches the evidence
| Certificate | Assurance | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover (bank facility) | Reasonable | Agreed to audited financial statements or books |
| MSME investment and turnover | Reasonable | Agreed to audited financial statements or books |
| Profitability (tender) | Reasonable | Agreed to audited financial statements or books |
| Working capital | Reasonable | Agreed to the balance sheet |
| Fund utilisation | Reasonable | Traced to the books against the sanction |
| Capital contribution | Reasonable | Agreed to capital accounts and the deed |
| Net worth (four purposes) | Limited | An individual keeps no books; documents behind each line |
| Income | Limited | Returns and the documents behind each source |
| Stock | Limited | Management counts the stock, not you |
| KYC — sole proprietorship | Limited | Documents examined; ownership is a legal matter |
| Statutory dues | Limited | You cannot know of dues not in the records |
What these certificates will not say
- The statutory dues certificate covers only the statutes you list, and says it does not state that no other dues exist.
- The stock certificate says you did not count the stock.
- The income certificate does not certify a return of income as a true copy, which ICAI advises against.
- The profitability certificate states how many years were profitable on the tender's measure. Whether that meets the condition is for the authority.
- The fund utilisation certificate does not cover the existence or valuation of the assets bought, or other terms of the sanction.
For lenders covers turnover, working capital, stock, fund utilisation and statutory dues. Net worth, income and the rest covers the others.
Last updated 23 Sept 2026
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