ICAI (EIRC) Communique
A Press Meet has
been organized by Eastern India Regional Council of ICAI on Wednesday,
9th May 2012 at Hotel Hindustan International, Kolkata.
CA.Jaydeep N. Shah,
President, ICAI and CA.Subodh Kumar Agrawal, Vice-President, ICAI, CA. Prasun
Kr. Bhattacharyya, Chairman, Eastern India Regional Council along with other
Regional Council Members and Central Council Members from Eastern Region were
present for the media interaction.
An update on the
recent initiatives taken by the Institute for members, students and in various
other areas are mentioned below:
1)The Working Group
set up by RBI had made recommendations and it was proposed to carry out
changes in allotment of bank branch audits of the public sector banks
by raising the minimum threshold (advances) limit of branches which
will not be subject to audit by statutory auditors. It was mainly proposed that
all branches having outstanding advances of Rs20 crore and above as on March 31,
2012, need to be audited for the year 2011-12. And of the remaining(branches
having outstanding less than Rs20 crore),one fifth branches were
proposed to be selected at random in such a way that all the remaining
branches are audited at least once in five years. The proposals were
based on the perception that there was no need of extensive branch audit in
view of implementation of CBS in all public sector banks.
As a result of
several representations made to the concerned authorities and sustained follow
up, finally the merit in ICAI stand and viewpoint was considered on the
move to reduce extensive audits of branches of Public Sector Bank.
The Ministry of Finance has recently decided that all branches having
outstanding advances of Rs 6 crore and above as on March 31, 2012, need to
be audited for the year 2011-12. And of the remaining (branches having
outstanding less than Rs 6 crore), one-third branches are to be selected at
random in such a way that all the remaining branches are audited at least once
in three years. This is a farsighted decision taken by the government which will
ultimately strengthen the cause of corporate governance and public interest in
the banking industry.
The earlier move was
not in the long-term interest of the banks and the nation. In case, the said
proposal would have been approved, the public sector banks would have got
exposed to a higher risk by not covering majority number of branches and
advances, thereby leaving scope for undetected material misstatements,
including frauds, whereas the saving in cost would have been negligible
in the hands of the banks. Further, ICAI as a regulator of the auditing
profession, firmly believes that such proposal if implemented would have
undermined the fair reporting on the state of affairs in public sector
banks.
2) ICAI had
approached the capital market regulator SEBI and proposed that ICAI can act as
an extended arm of the SEBI in monitoring the Market Intermediaries like
Brokers, Merchant bankers, depositories, clearing corporations, Mutual Funds,
etc. It was also suggested that there should be separate reporting requirement
under Companies Auditor Report Order (CARO) for the Listed and Unlisted
companies due to public interest involved in the listed companies. ICAI also
offered help and involvement in the forensic cell of SEBI to establish and
verify disclosures made by companies in their IPO offer documents and also to
take up cases related to accounts related financial malfeasance.
3) ICAI, with a view
to converge with IFRSs, had formulated the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind
ASs), which were approved by the NACAS and, thereafter, by the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs(MCA). These Ind ASs have been placed on the website of the
MCA. However, the date on which these Standards will come into force is yet to
be notified by the Ministry. With a view to continue to remain at par with the
IFRSs that are being revised and new IFRSs being issued by the International
Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the Institute has initiated the process of
revising the existing Ind ASs and issuing new Ind ASs in convergence with the
new/revised IFRSs. ICAI will also be revising/issuing new Ind ASs which will be
issued by the IASB so that whenever the Government decides to converge with
IFRS, the Ind ASs corresponding to the IFRS effective on that date are
available.
IASB has undertaken
project of revising its Standard on leases. The aim of the project is to
develop a new single approach to lease accounting that would ensure that all
assets and liabilities arising under lease contracts are recognised in the
statement of financial position (balance sheet) of the lessee. The IASB had
issued an Exposure Draft of the proposed IFRS in 2010.The ICAI is organising an
outreach meeting with IASB to provide inputs from India on the proposed IFRS on
Leases on May 09, 2012 at Mumbai. The meeting will be attended by various
industry representatives, professionals, other stakeholders and experts on the
subject.
•
Initiatives towards
Nation building:
•
Indira
Gandhi Open University (IGNOU)
•
Netaji
Subhash Open University (NSOU)
•
Bharathiar
University (BU)
•
University of Madras
(UNOM)
•
The
biggest issue before the institute is ‘globalisation of Indian accountants’.
India is growing at a rapid pace. A lot of FDI is coming into the country,
Indian companies are setting up offices abroad, acquiring firms overseas and
merging in order to grow bigger and go global. As a part of International
initiatives, ICAI would like to have strategic collaborations with more
international accounting bodies so that it can provide a global outlook to CA
members.ICAI is a founder member of various International professional bodies
and is playing a prominent role through its nominees who have worked and are
working on the Governing Council as well as various Committees of those
bodies.
•
MoUs/MRAs with
various Accounting Bodies: The Institute has
signed MoUs/MRAs with various Accounting Bodies namely:
•
The
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales
•
The
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia
•
CPA
Australia
•
CPA
Ireland
•
Canadian Institute
of Chartered Accountants
•
Association of
International Accountants (AIA), UK
•
This
step entails coming together of the two Accounting bodies working in tandem with
each other to provide synergy. These agreements facilitate mobility of members
across the borders and further strengthen the ties between India and its
counterpart in other country. The Institute is also working on a similar
agreement with the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants.
•
Benefits to Overseas
citizens of India: A group had been
constituted by the Institute to consider appropriate steps for identifying a
qualification bridging mechanism in line with the arrangements in place for MOU,
MRAs with various International accounting bodies and feasibility of considering
provision to be prescribed for licensing of Overseas Citizens of India and to
work out the modalities therein. The Group has completed its task and a report
including Qualification Bridging Mechanism for Licensing Overseas Citizenships
of India registered under Section 7B(1) Citizenship Act, 1955 has been placed
before the Council for its consideration and approval. The proposed scheme ,if
approved ,will give an opportunity for Overseas Citizen of India (OCIs)
Chartered accountant professionals to practice the accountancy profession in
India subject to the conditions as laid down in the said scheme of bridging
qualification mechanism.
No comments:
Post a Comment