On 1 April 1914, the Companies Act, 1913 was passed and it was necessitated that every auditor of a public limited company must be a certified auditor by the government. The provincial governments were empowered to grant auditors' certificates but, at the same time, the central government also reserved the right to recognise members of certain professional bodies as qualified auditors without obtaining Auditor's Certificate from the government. Consequently, the members of the English, Scottish and Irish Institutes of Chartered Accountants and the English Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors were recognised as qualified auditors.