1. Purpose and Scope 

Welcome to PECB Connect, a platform designed to help organizations identify and connect with qualified auditors based on criteria such as standards, qualifications, competencies, language, location, industry experience, and audit expertise. PECB Connect is operated by PECB Group Pte Ltd. (hereby referred to as PECB). These terms set out the rights and obligations that apply to auditors who register, create a profile, or participate on PECB Connect.  

2. Profile Information and Ongoing Accuracy 

The Auditor is responsible for ensuring that all information included in their PECB Connect profile is accurate, complete, truthful, and kept up to date at all times. This includes, but is not limited to, contact details, professional qualifications, certifications, standards of expertise, audit experience, industry experience, languages, location, professional history, and any supporting documents uploaded to the platform. 

The Auditor acknowledges that organizations may rely on the information displayed in the Auditor’s profile when evaluating, shortlisting, contacting, or selecting potential auditors. For this reason, the Auditor must promptly update their profile whenever any information changes, expires, becomes inaccurate, or is no longer complete. 

The Auditor must not include misleading, exaggerated, incomplete, outdated, or unverifiable information in their profile, or information that infringes third-party rights. PECB Connect may request additional information, clarification, or supporting documents to verify profile information and may restrict, suspend, or remove a profile where information appears inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, misleading, or non-compliant. 

Any deliberate falsification, misrepresentation, omission of material information, or failure to maintain accurate and up-to-date profile information may result in rejection of registration, suspension or removal from PECB Connect, termination of these terms, and/or other appropriate measures.

3. Compliance and Professional Conduct  

The Auditor agrees to act with integrity, honesty, professionalism, due care, and respect in all interactions conducted through or related to PECB Connect, regardless of the interaction level, whether public or private. Auditor shall comply with the PECB Code of Ethics, where applicable, as well as any ethical standards, policies, or conduct requirements made available by PECB Connect. 

The Auditor must communicate truthfully with PECB Connect and with organizations using the platform, including during profile creation, opportunity discussions, proposal submissions, audit-related communications, and any post-engagement feedback processes. 

The Auditor must avoid any conduct that may compromise, or appear to compromise, the independence, impartiality, objectivity, or credibility of the audit process and shall disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest that may affect an audit opportunity, engagement, or interaction with an organization through PECB Connect. 

The Auditor must not accept or continue any engagement where their independence, impartiality, objectivity, or professional judgment may reasonably be compromised, unless the conflict has been properly disclosed and addressed in line with applicable laws, professional standards, the PECB Code of Ethics where applicable, and any PECB Connect policies or instructions made available to the Auditor. 

The Auditor agrees to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, professional requirements, audit standards, certification rules, anti-bribery and anti-corruption requirements, sanctions restrictions, and any other requirements relevant to their activities on or through PECB Connect. 

If the Auditor is linked to an associated organization on PECB Connect, the Auditor acknowledges that the organization may, through platform settings, be able to determine whether it can view the Auditor’s platform communications or chat activity, where such functionality is made available. The Auditor is responsible for ensuring that any listed organization association is accurate and authorized 

4. Competence, Qualifications, and Eligibility 

The Auditor is responsible for accepting or pursuing only those opportunities for which they have the appropriate competence, qualifications, certifications, experience, language ability, and professional capacity. 

The Auditor must promptly notify PECB Connect if any certification, license, authorization, training record, professional status, or other credential referenced in their profile expires, is suspended, is withdrawn, or becomes subject to any limitation or restriction. Where the change cannot be updated directly through the platform, or where it may affect the Auditor’s eligibility or participation on PECB Connect, the Auditor must promptly notify PECB Connect. 

PECB Connect may, at its discretion, review, verify, or request evidence of the Auditor’s qualifications, certifications, experience, identity, or eligibility to participate on the platform.  

5. Confidentiality 

The Auditor agrees to maintain the confidentiality of all non-public, confidential, proprietary, personal, commercial, technical, or audit-related information obtained through PECB Connect or through organizations contacted via the platform. 

The Auditor must not disclose confidential information to any third party without appropriate authorization, unless disclosure is required by applicable law, regulation, court order, or law enforcement authority. 

The confidentiality obligations in these terms shall continue after the Auditor’s profile is removed, access is terminated, or the terms conclude.  

6. Intellectual Property and Data Protection  

The Auditor agrees to use information obtained through PECB Connect only for legitimate professional purposes related to platform participation and potential audit opportunities, respect third-party rights, and obtain relevant permissions.  

The Auditor must handle personal data and confidential information in accordance with applicable data protection and privacy laws, as well as any PECB Connect terms, notices, or policies made available to the Auditor. 

PECB processes personal data as a data controller in accordance with applicable data protection laws and declarations provided in the PECB Privacy Statement and Data Protection Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms.  

The personal data provided by the Auditor will be used for the purpose of creating and managing the Auditor’s personal account on PECB Connect. 

All Proprietary Rights to the PECB Connect platform belong to PECB and may only be used with the owner’s prior written consent. 

7. Communications with Organizations 

The Auditor must communicate with organizations in a professional, accurate, timely, and respectful manner. 

Any terms related to audit engagement between the Auditor and an organization, including scope, fees, timing, deliverables, responsibilities, and contractual arrangements, are the responsibility of the Auditor and the organization. 

8. Platform Access, Suspension, and Revocation 

PECB Connect may approve, reject, suspend, revoke, or remove an Auditor’s profile or platform access if the Auditor fails to comply with these Terms, provides inaccurate or incomplete information, breaches confidentiality, acts unprofessionally, misuses the platform, or creates legal, reputational, operational, or compliance risk for PECB Connect, organizations, or other users. 

PECB Connect may request profile updates, supporting documents, or corrective actions as a condition for continued participation on the platform.  

Revocation or removal from PECB Connect does not affect any obligations that are intended to continue, including the confidentiality obligations set out in Section 6, the data protection obligations, and any obligations related to the accuracy of information previously submitted through the platform. 

9. No Guarantee of Engagements 
 

The Auditor understands that registration on PECB Connect does not guarantee visibility, ranking, selection, contact by organizations, audit mandates, assignments, revenue, or any specific professional outcome. Registration on the platform does not create an employment, agency, partnership, or exclusivity relationship between the Auditor and PECB Connect, and does not guarantee audit opportunities or assignments. 

Organizations using PECB Connect remain responsible for evaluating and selecting auditors according to their own requirements, decision-making processes, and payment obligations. 

10. Governing Law and Jurisdiction 

These Terms shall be exclusively governed and construed in accordance with the laws of Singapore without regard to its conflicts of law principles. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be referred to and resolved by arbitration administered by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. 

11. Changes  

PECB may modify these Terms or related and/or integrated policies from time to time. If we materially change these terms or if we are legally required to provide notice, we will provide the Auditor with notice through the PECB Connect platform or by other means. However, we may not always provide prior notice of changes to these terms (1) when those changes are legally required to be implemented with immediate effect, or (2) when those changes relate to a newly launched service or feature. If the Auditor objects to any of these changes, they may request account termination. The continued use of the PECB Connect platform after we publish or send a notice about our changes to these terms means that the Auditor is consenting to the updated terms as of their effective date. 

12. Acknowledgement  

By electronically accepting these Terms through PECB Connect, the Auditor confirms that they have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms.