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The CA Institute’s central council will hold a special meeting in Mumbai on April 5 to discuss threadbare the impact analysis it has undertaken on the recent Standing Committee on Finance report that, among other things, called for an end to statutory monopoly of the ICAI over the accounting profession.
A meeting of the Past Presidents of the CA Institute has also been convened for April 6 to give their counsel to the current leadership and deliberate on this pressing matter, which has become a challenge for the CA Institute, said sources close to the development.
Nearly 25 Past Presidents of the CA Institute are expected to take part in the meeting, either physically or through virtual mode, and share their viewpoints on the new situation, they added.
It maybe recalled that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by BJP MP Jayant Sinha, had, in its report tabled in Lok Sabha on March 23, endorsed the proposed revamp of the disciplinary mechanism of the three professional institutes — CA Institute, Cost Accountants Institute and the Company Secretaries Institute.
The report also recommended that the government must consider setting up Institute of Accounting (IIA) on the lines of IITs and IIMs, thereby putting an end to the statutory monopoly enjoyed by the CA Institute over the accounting profession.
CA Institute President Debashis Mitra had, on Friday, said in a video message to the CA fraternity that the central council was “seized of the matter” and had embarked on an “impact analysis” of the standing committee’s recommendations.
The CA fraternity is already divided on what should be the right course of action for the CA Institute in the days to come. Much would depend on whether the government will accept the recommendations of the Standing Committee on setting up an Institute of Accounting (IIA) or leave them untouched, said sources.
While some CA members want the CA Institute to accept reality and let go it’s statutory monopoly so as to be in tune with the times, there are some who still want the CA Institute to engage with the government to see how it can play some role in the setting up and running of IIAs.
There are even suggestions that ICAI should look to set up an ‘ICAI university’, and the several IIAs could get accreditation of the university to run professional courses in accounting. Those passing out of IIAs could then be allowed to practice and compete with the chartered accountants, it is being felt.
Appellate Authority members
Meanwhile, the Central Government has now appointed Anil Satyanarayan Bhandari and Pankaj Tyagee ( past council members of the CA Institute) as Members of the Appellate Authority that hears disciplinary appeals. The Centre had recently appointed retired IAS officer Praveen Garg and Anand Mohan Bajaj, Additional Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs, as its nominees in the Appellate Authority.
The Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) has now appointed Atul Mittal from Deloitte Haskins & Sells, and Satwinder Singh, Vaish Associates, as Members in the Appellate Authority, in the positions allocated under the Company Secretaries Act.
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