Which companies need an audit in Georgia
Public interest entities, first and second category companies, and first and second category groups must have their annual financial statements audited. Third and fourth category companies and non-commercial legal entities are exempt unless another Georgian law requires an audit.
A company falls into the smallest category whose limits it meets on at least two of the three measures, judged at the end of the reporting period.
| Category |
Total assets |
Revenue |
Average staff |
Statutory audit |
| Fourth |
Up to 1 million GEL |
Up to 2 million GEL |
Up to 10 |
Not required |
| Third |
Up to 10 million GEL |
Up to 20 million GEL |
Up to 50 |
Not required |
| Second |
Up to 50 million GEL |
Up to 100 million GEL |
Up to 250 |
Required |
| First |
Over 50 million GEL |
Over 100 million GEL |
Over 250 |
Required |
Public interest entities need an audit whatever their size. They include listed reporting companies, commercial banks, microbanks, microfinance organisations, insurers, private pension companies, authorised investment companies and credit unions, and factoring companies join them from 1 January 2027.
What drives audit fees in Tbilisi
An audit quote in Tbilisi follows the hours the engagement needs, and five things drive those hours.
- Transaction volume. More transactions and more related-party dealings mean more testing.
- Structure. Branches, warehouses holding stock, consolidated groups and foreign currency transactions all widen the scope.
- The state of your accounting. Monthly reconciliations, inventory counts and a prompt month-end close shorten the work, and so do controls such as separated duties and approval steps.
- Reporting framework. Statements under full IFRS need deeper analysis than statements under IFRS for SMEs.
- Timing. An audit planned late needs extra staff and faster procedures, which adds cost.
What to check before hiring an audit firm
- Authority on the SARAS register. Each firm’s entry at saras.gov.ge shows whether it holds statutory authority and whether that authority covers public interest audits. Since June 2024 a SARAS quality review ends in one of these authority decisions instead of a grade.
- Quality review history. Each entry also keeps the grades SARAS gave until May 2024, from First to Sixth Category. First and Second carried no audit restriction, and Third restricted public interest audits. Firms that audit public interest entities or first category companies are reviewed at least once every 3 years.
- Clients in your sector. The same register entry lists the public interest audits the firm carried out each year, so you can see whether it already audits banks, insurers, utilities or microfinance lenders.
- The transparency report. A firm with public interest clients must publish an annual transparency report on its website within 4 months of its financial year end and keep it online for at least 5 years.
Big Four and other audit firms in Tbilisi
EY Georgia, PwC Georgia, KPMG Georgia and Deloitte Georgia, the Big Four firms, are the only ones on this list rated First Category in every graded SARAS review. With BDO Georgia they report the five largest assurance revenues here, and their 2025 public interest clients include Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Credo Bank, Telasi and Georgian State Electrosystem.
The other six are the Georgian firms of the BDO, Nexia, ECOVIS, Moore, RSM and UHY networks, each graded Second Category in its last graded review. Their 2025 assurance revenue ran from 1.22 million GEL at UHY Georgia to 7.6 million GEL at BDO Georgia. Nexia Georgia and ECOVIS Georgia also run accounting, tax and legal teams, and Moore ABC has appraisers on staff.
