Now, unique number to check authenticity of CA-certified documents

Banks and regulators will now have a mechanism to check the authenticity of various documents certified by practising chartered accountants.

To tackle the menace of forged certifications of financial statements and documents, the CA Institute has introduced an innovative concept of Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN).

The unique number will be generated for every document certified by a practising CA and registered with the UDIN portal. Regulators and banks can use the portal to check the authenticity of the documents.

The new system has gone live from July 1, but is only recommendatory to start with. This is expected to become mandatory in the coming days, sources said. It has come to the notice of the CA Institute that financial statements and documents are getting certified by “third persons” who are not actually CAs. This could mislead authorities/other stakeholders who rely upon them, it was felt. The portal — https://udin.icai.org — offers the facility to various regulators /banks/ authorities/other stakeholders to check the authenticity of the documents certified by practising Chartered Accountants who have registered on the said portal.

Tracing the documents

This would help them trace forged/wrong documents prepared by any third person in the name of chartered accountants, as a person other than the chartered accountant will not be able to upload the documents on the portal.

The CA Institute has now directed its members to register the documents certified by them and get them secured, sources added.