In January 2013, the Council of Ministers had issued a Decree on Determination of Equity Companies Subject to Independent Audit (“Decree”).

Following the publication of the Decree, approximately 2,500 large scale companies were subjected to independent audit whereas most of the Turkish equity companies fell outside of the scope of independent audit.

This led to arguments in terms of corporate governance principles, transparent management and accounting, rights of the minority shareholders among others.

The Minister of Customs and Commerce had announced that the scope of equity companies subject to independent audit will be widened gradually.

Following the announcement of the Minister, Ministry of Customs and Commerce has issued an Amendment numbered 2014/5973 which was published in the Official Gazette numbered 28941 and dated March 14, 2014 (“Amendment”).

The Amendment provides that, equity companies which fulfill at least two out of the three criteria listed below during the financial years of 2012 and 2013 shall be subject to independent audit starting from January 01, 2014:

 net assets of the eligible equity company must be equal to or above 75 million Turkish Liras (previously, this amount was 150 million Turkish Liras);

 net sales revenue of the eligible equity company must be equal to or above 150 million Turkish Liras (previously, this amount was 200 million Turkish Liras); or

 the number of employees of the eligible equity company must be equal to or above 250 (previously, this number was 500).