The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is committed to complete within six months, the disciplinary proceedings in fraud cases involving public interest.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Amarjit Chopra, president of the statutory body that regulates the profession of Chartered Accountants, said that the proceedings against its members who were facing cases filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and others would be taken out of turn and disposed of expeditiously.
Speaking about the fallout of Satyam scandal, he said that it was an issue where the entire corporate governance had failed with independent directors, regulators and share holders also involved. If the due process had been followed by every one involved, the scandal could have been unearthed much earlier.
“We have also suggested to the Government to constitute a panel of independent directors. Also, standards should be fixed for remuneration of the independent directors,” he said.
ICAI Administration
Speaking about the administration of ICAI, he said that eight members or 20 per cent of the 40-member governing council were nominated by the Government. Further, the member nominated by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is the Chairman of the audit committee and one of the five-member disciplinary committee is a Government nominee.
The coming years were important with many new concepts such as the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Direct Tax Code, Goods and Services Tax about to be implemented. The ICAI would like to give suggestions on their implementation to the Government, he said.
The CAG has accepted a suggestion by the ICAI to rope in an auditor in all districts to monitor and ensure optimal utilisation of resources of schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
Popularising CA
The ICAI was conducting career counselling courses in schools and colleges to popularise chartered accountancy by highlighting its salient features. Efforts were also on to attract more students from rural areas. At present, Mr. Chopra said, around one-third of students in north India were from mofussil towns.
G. Ramaswamy, vice-president of ICAI, said that the body was undertaking a drive to weed out fake auditors. Further, disciplinary action was initiated against 120 persons found guilty of various charges. The ICAI, with 1.65 lakh members and six lakh students, was the second largest body of CAs in the world, next only to the U.S. body
He was here to address a meeting organised by the Madurai Branch of Southern Indian Regional Council (SIRC) of ICAI. P.V. Rajarajeswaran, regional council member of SIRC, T. Thavamani, chairman, Madurai Branch and A. Mohamed Khan, secretary, were present.