'Accountancy profession to be promising'

CHENNAI: The primary goal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is to bring the institute to the forefront of economic activity and create a unique ICAI brand that would be recognised not just in India but all over the world, said G Ramasamy, President, ICAI at a press conference held here on Sunday.

Keeping in mind the fast growth of India, the government has undertaken several initiatives and financial inclusion will soon become an important growth area. The ICAI has submitted suggestions on Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the concerned ministries and is working closely with the government.In view of all these developments, the future of accountancy profession will become promising.Accountants can indeed play a significant role in the economic development of India, said Ramasamy.He also pointed out that the ICAI has taken steps for capacity building of small and medium practitioners through skill development initiatives. The institute has also planned to organise conferences and conclaves for the benefit of smaller firms.In a bid to enhance the knowledge base of the members and chartered accountancy firms, the ICAI has created a website, where the small and medium practitioners can create their own portals.It will also introduce elibrary, a knowledge portal that includes blogs, discussion forums, chartered accountancy (CA) net-book facility, downloadable software helpful for office management and resource material for easy reference by members and firms.The CA course offers bright future prospects for the candidates. This year a total of 5,375 candidates across the country participated in the campus placement organised in two phases in Feb-March 2011.Good salary packages were offered to the candidates.“The institute has held a meeting with the University of Madras towards entering into an MOU to provide opportunity to the members and students to pursue courses like PhD, Masters and Bachelors in Commerce and Management to be awarded by the University,” said K Shanmugasundaram, Chairman, ICAI, Southern India Regional Council.A brochure of Minimum Recommended Scale fee for the professional assignments done by the CA’s has been published by the institute. It will benefit the small and medium practitioners, he further added.For the first time in the history of the examination system of ICAI, the examination department has implemented an automation process covering the coding, attendance data capturing, reconciliation and capturing of marks.

Students who have not passed Plus Two but have completed two years of higher education shall be able to pursue CA course.

A decision was taken to grant 15 minutes of additional time to read the question paper for students appearing for the exams commencing from the May exams, Ramasamy said.

In an attempt to bring about accountability of political parties in the country, the institute has taken initiatives to prepare a format for the disclosure of the income and expenditure of political parties.The report on the Uniform Accounting and Auditing Framework for Political Parties has been submitted to the Election Commission.As part of International initiatives, ICAI has also tied up with international accounting bodies that can provide a global outlook to CA members. Recently an MoU was signed with College of Banking and Financial Studies, Oman, said Ramasamy.

Source: https://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/accountancy-profession-to-be-promising/283647.html