Dear Member,
I am delighted to inform you that I have been nominated as the Chairman of the Committee on Information Technology of ICAI for the year 2009-10. I am extremely thankful to CA. Atul. C. Bheda, the outgoing Chairman & the other members of the Committee for their untiring efforts for the development of the profession in IT area & enhancing the capabilities of ISA qualified members.
It is a matter of pride that we have more than 14000 ISA qualified members across the country today. It is essential for us to create new opportunities and provide the necessary skill sets so as to enable members to offer services to clients across the globe. You can use the Technical Guide on IS Audit (2nd Edition) recently released by the Committee as a starting point.
The Committee has drawn ambitious plans to help the ISA qualified members in practice to venture into new areas of technology practice and for members in industry to advance their careers in the fast growing IT and IT Enabled Services (ITeS).
I wish to highlight some of the activities proposed to be undertaken by the IT Committee in the current year:
1. ISA Meets :
To conduct ISA Meets across the country, so as to provide an opportunity for ISA qualified members to meet and interact on developments taking place in the field of Information Systems Audit and Consulting, ERP Implementation and Consulting, E-Commerce Implementation and Consulting, Knowledge Process Outsourcing etc.,
2. ISACA MOU:
Educate and develop ISA Members to provide Information Systems Assurance Services using the IS Audit Standards, Guidelines and Procedures now available under the MOU.
3. IT Directorate:
Establish a state-of- the art IT Directorate to better service the IT Education & Training needs of the members & students and the Institute as a whole.
4. Promotion of XBRL - Financial Reporting Language:
Participate in XBRL initiatives by conducting informative seminars, tools to convert accounts to facilitate XBRL filings, strive to promote the use of XBRL by regulators SEBI, RBI, Banks, Stock Exchanges through the proposed XBRL Indian jurisdiction.
5. E-Governance:
Assist Central and State Governments in their e-governance initiatives. Ensuring that ISA qualified members has a greater role to play in the implementation of e-governance projects.
6. Promote Forensic Accounting & Fraud Detection:
Highlight Forensic Accounting & Fraud Detection as a value added service being provided by Chartered Accountants through informative leaflets/ booklets and advertisements. Develop case studies for specific industries, to be covered as a part of the course. Conduct the Certification Course at all major cities for the benefit of members.
7. Revamp of Post Qualification Course on Information Systems Audit:
· Create an efficient e-learning system for the ISA Course.
· We propose meeting of the Study Group on quarterly basis on Video Conferencing to consider and suggest the ways and means to make the ISA Course more effective for members and industry.
· Introduce Practical Training on Core Banking & Information System Audit.
· ISA qualified members to undergo regular practical training to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. Though, we have been contemplating about this practical training for long time, not much has been done so far.
· International recognition of ISA qualification.
8. IT Manager Course for Members in Industry:
Chartered Accountants are increasingly managing the IT Departments of enterprises today considering their unique training and knowledge of the business. Chartered Accountants play a crucial role in a cross functional team for process enhancement & problem solving. Hence there is a need to offer a specialised qualification such as Certification Course on IT Manager , so that members can contribute to adoption of good IT Governance practices and procedures in corporate sector, banks and financial institutions.
9. Technology Initiatives
· Webinars (Seminars on the Web) on fortnightly basis on emerging themes. We propose to grant CPE hours for Members participating in these webinars.
· E-learning - To monitor e-learning development by members and to allot CPE Hours for e-learning introduced and being introduced by the Committee.
10. Professional Opportunities for ISA members:
· Provide training to members on Knowledge Process Outsourcing such as Payroll Processing, Tax Returns processing, Financial Accounting.
· The committee may advocate compulsory IS Audit by our ISA qualified members for audit of Information Systems in large listed companies.
I request you to actively participate in the events and seminars organized by the CIT so as to keep yourselves updated on the developments taking place in the field of Information Technology.
I would be delighted to have your views and suggestions on an online real time basis.
With warm personal regards,
Yours sincerely,
CA. K. Raghu
Chairman
Committee on Information Technology
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
New Delhi
e-Mail: kraghu9999 @ gmail.com
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