Interview of CA. K. Raghu, President, ICAI by Business World

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Source :ICAI Website News Section

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ICAI to launch dedicated TV channel for CAs from 15th August

Dainik Bhaskar National Edition

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Source:

ICAI Website News Section

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From CA rank holder to Treasurer of BJP - PIYUSH GOYAL - Famous CAs (Part 1)

1st in our series of posts about famous CAs. We are bringing you a famous TV face of BJP. To everyone's surprise, he was a 2nd National Rank Holder in CA. Read Ahead to know more about him.

Piyush Goyal is a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and National Treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition party in India. He also heads BJP's Information Communication Campaign Committee that oversees all outreach efforts of the party via web, mobile and social-media.

He is seen to be the mind behind BJP's social media outreach and which is a major part in its probable success in the elections. He is also a mind behind Modi's Chai Pe Charcha.

He has had a strong academic record - all-India second rank holder Chartered Accountant and second rank holder in Law in Mumbai University. He has participated in Leadership Programs at Yale University (2011), Oxford University (2012) and Princeton University (2013) and is currently pursuing the Owner / President Management (OPM) Program at Harvard Business School.

A well-known investment banker, he has advised top corporates on management strategy and growth; also served on the Board of India’s largest commercial bank, the State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda.

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Piyush is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence. An active member of the Managing Committee of Indian Merchants Chamber, he is also involved with NGOs in diverse fields such as tribal education and welfare of the physically challenged (Jaipur Foot).

During his 27 year long political career, he has served on the National Executive and held several important positions in the BJP. He was also nominated by the Government of India to the Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers. He was the Dy. Campaign In-charge for the Parliament elections in 1991 and played a key role at the central level in all elections since 2004.

As a Chartered Accountant, he is showing his skills at his best as a Treasurer for India's one of the largest political parties of India, ranging from procuring the finances for the party, liaising with corporates for the same, and wisely using the same for campaigning for the party. He is a brain behind funding for Massive Rallies of BJP in recent, and also BJP's Chai Pe Charcha. His interest in Information technology is evident from his track record for his party, he is the one of those who is leading his party on web and social media. He is definitely one face to be given credit for a "social media win of BJP" much before the General Election 2014 even started.

With excerpt from Media Reports.

Sources:

1. Wikipedia

2. piyushgoyal.in

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CAs, CS' & CWA object to notification of Companies Act

Chartered accountants,cost accountants and company secretaries—three classes of professionals recognized under the statute— have protested against the notification of the new companies law, with each saying that they will be hurt by it in various ways.

While chartered accountants are worried about increased responsibility and accountability under the new Act, cost accountants and company secretaries say they will be rendered superfluous at more than 90% of companies, putting corporate governance at risk. However, others are of the view that the new rules will lead to the opening up of fresh opportunities and ensure that audit quality rises.

Chartered accountants are outraged about mandatory joint audits that force one to take responsibility for the other's faults, company secretaries are furious about the ministry having scrapped the requirement for them in private companies, leading to job losses.

Judicial pronouncements in the past have held that auditors are not bloodhounds, said chartered accountant KS Mehta of SS Kothari Mehta & Co.

"It is practically not feasible for an auditor to make his audit more extensive within the limited timeframe allowed by Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) for adoption of annual accounts than it is already doing," he said. "Companies want to release accounts within 30 days. While joint auditors for the same account may solve the problem to an extent, it is not acceptable by companies as it increases expenses as well as makes coordination more complex."
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The new rule making the entire body of partners responsible for any act of negligence by one will have a deleterious effect, he said. "The new rule will only encourage taking up of non-audit work by firms which are not registered and therefore, not subject to the discipline of the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India)," said Mehta.

ICAI has found fault with the rotation of auditors that's now required. "The auditors' rotation has (until) now been restricted to certain class of companies, leaving close to 90% of the companies outside the scope of rotation of auditors," said ICAI president C A K Raghu.

Company secretaries say they are the worst affected. About 93% of India's 9 lakh companies are private, no longer needing the statutory services of a company secretary under the new rules.

This will hit corporate governance, they warned.

"This has made the future dark for 35,000 members of the CS institute and 4 lakh students. On the other hand, corporate governance of a large section of corporates is going to take a back seat," said SK Jain, a Mumbai-based company secretary.

Cost accountants have been protesting against the rules from the draft stage itself, claiming that the scope of their work has also been curbed. The corporate affairs ministry is yet to notify the final rules for cost audit leading to confusion among professionals.

"The section regarding cost audit and records has been notified effective April 1, 2014, but the rules governing the same are not," said Amit Apte, central council member of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India. "We are advising companies to follow the old rules till the time final rules for cost audit are notified."

S Santhana Krishnan, chairman of the corporate laws committee of the chartered accountants' institute and member of the rules committee of the corporate affairs minstry, admitted that discharging professional functions will become more difficult.

However, the new rules open up new opportunities, he said.

"Some people have looked at the Act as an employment guarantee scheme. It is inappropriate.

Those who believe they have lost opportunities will actually get more opportunities as per the new rules," said Krishnan. For example, cost accountants can now become internal auditors as well.

Company secretaries and CFOs are part of key management personnel. Chartered accountants will get new consulting opportunities such as financial control, corporate governance etc, he said.

Source: Economic Times

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ICAI to start flexi working portal for women CAs & construct a new building at Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: At the felicitation function of the President and the Vice President of ICAI, at Ahmedabad, organized by Ahmedabad ICAI, The Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI) has rolled out it's plans to start women flexi working portal by next week, to facilitate female chartered accountants to work from home and having flexible working hours. Under the plan, ICAI flexi working portal would allow qualified CA women to have flexible working hours and they can work from any location of their choice. 

"The portal will be launched on Monday" said K Raghu, president, ICAI."Currently, there are approximately 40,000 women CA in the country" said Manoj Fadnis, vice president, ICAI, adding that most of the qualified female chartered accountant either get inactive or work on & off in the profession due to their family obligation after their marriage.According to the institute, ICAI is trying to bridge gap between the female chartered accountant by bringing them into the action via this portal. The portal would allow CA firms, individual CA practitioner, audit firms and even corporate to outsource the desk job to the female chartered accountants. Desk job usually include audit, back office work, consultant job, drafting, verification, etc.

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According to Mr Fadnis, it is observed the women chartered accountants after 30's (age) get engaged into family issues, as they give family a priority.The institute would also soon organize training programe for the women chartered accountants across 50 locations in the country to impart training for taking up the position of independent director on the corporate board. The new companies act mandates that a company should have at least one women director on the board. "This portal would also encourage women CA to try for director position in the companies" said Mr Raghu.Mr Raghu also announced that ICAI would set up a new building that would be constructed adjacent to its current ICAI building located on Usmanpura area in Ahmedabad. 

The new building would have modern facilities like two reader hall and one hitech computer lab.According to Dhinal Shah, central council member, ICAI informs that approximately Rs 6 to Rs 7 crore will be spend to set up the new building. The money would be disbursed by the ICAI's infrastructure development fund. "The new building would be operationalized in next 10 months" adds Mr Raghu. 

With inputs from our reporters & Economic Times.

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ICAI expressed the concern over DTC 2013 proposing to allow tax audit to be conducted by CS and CWAs also

Direct Tax Code 2013 which is not yet passed and effective is making big news in CA profession. The DTC proposes that CS and CWA will also be eligible to conduct the tax audits. As per the new Tax Code the definition of Accountant includes CS and CWA.

As per New Direct Tax Code 2013, Accountant Means

"a chartered accountant within the meaning of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and who holds a valid certificate of practice under sub-section (1) of section 6 of that Act, and shall include-

(i) a company secretary within the meaning of the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 ;

(ii) a cost accountant within the meaning of the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959 ; or

(iii) any person having such qualifications as the Board may prescribe, for the purposes specified in this behalf"

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The above definition and allowing CS & CWAs to conduct Tax Audits has created nightmare and a concern for CA profession, and the response of which can be seen even on social media.

A user on social media says:

"I respect all professionals so kindly don't take me wrong and I am not judging or challenging anybody's professional knowledge or skills. My only question is that the way a CA is rigorously taught income tax and accountancy, does the same way is followed in the course of CS, CWA. If yes, then surely CAs monoply wud break and if no then what is the point of allowing other professionals to conduct an assignment of which they don't have indepth knowledge???"

Even Meme like this can also be seen on Social Media:

On the same issue, ICAI has now officially expressed it's concern. The announcement dated 17th April, 2014 by ICAI on it's website read as under -

ICAI expresses its concern on the proposed definition of “Accountant” in DTC, 2013 - (17-04-2014) 

As the members are aware, the Direct Taxes Code, 2013 has proposed to widen the scope of the definition “Accountant” to include other professionals as well. It is a fact that various provisions in the Income-tax Act, 1961 under which chartered accountants have been given the responsibilities to undertake audit and certification of accounts of various entities have the emphasis on “audit” of the relevant accounts which is the exclusive domain of Chartered Accountants.

The Council of ICAI is aware that the proposed change is a cause of major concern to the entire profession. In this regard, ICAI has through a representation to Ministry of Finance, placed on record its concern not only for the profession, but for the country as a whole since issuance of audit certificates by persons having limited knowledge of audit of accounts will not only be professionally incorrect and but will raise many concerns including causing huge revenue leakages.

A meeting in this regard was held with Mr. Rajiv Takru, Revenue Secretary and Mr. R.K.Tewari, Chairman, CBDT on 16.4.2014, wherein CA. K. Raghu, President, ICAI and CA. Manoj Fadnis, Vice President, ICAI emphasized on the fact that there is a very significant difference in the area of expertise of other professionals vis-a-vis Chartered Accountants.

Members be assured that the Council of ICAI is equally concerned and will not leave any stone unturned to save the profession and the nation.


Secretary, Direct Taxes Committee

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Courtesy : ICAI

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ICAI's representation to MCA on Sec. 141(3)(g) of The Companies Act, 2013, to consider the ceiling for audit not to apply to Pvt Co. & OPC

Section 141(3)(g) of the Companies Act, 2013 talks about the ceiling limit for an auditor for audit of companies, which reads as under-

''141. Eligibility, qualifications and disqualifications of auditors

(1)...........................

(3) The following persons shall not be eligible for appointment as an auditor of acompany, namely:—

(a) ..................

(g) a person who is in full time employment elsewhere or a person or a partner ofa firm holding appointment as its auditor, if such persons or partner is at the date of such appointment or reappointment holding appointment as auditor of more than twenty companies;''

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As quoted, the above section gives a ceiling limit for an auditor on no. of audit, and only 20 companies are allowed to be audited by 1 auditor. But what has created a confusion in the profession is the use of word "Company" instead of using word "public company". The word company includes every type of company (which even include One Person Company, Private Company, Small Company). Obviously, the intention of the law maker must not be that one auditor can only audit 20 companies, including private co. and OPC.

To avoid this confusion, ICAI has sough the correct view of MCA on the same, and also to stress that even if the intention is to give limit of 20 companies, then that limit must be removed as it will create the hardship on CA profession at large and also audits will cost the companies high. Copy of the ICAI's letter is attatched below.

See the letter: http://ch.cahelpers.in/Representation2MCA

(The original letter is hosted at ICAI's website. This copy of the letter has been highlighted wherever it was necessary for better understanding of the users.)

Courtesy: ICAI

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Applicability of the Companies Act, 2013 to Auditor's Report to FY 2014-15 and Onwards (Not Applicable to FY 2013-14)

CLARIFICATION 

Applicability of the Companies Act, 2013 to Auditor’s Report to FY 2014-15 and Onward

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, on 26th March 2014 notified a majority of the remaining sections of the Companies Act, 2013, including sections 139 to 148, relating to audits and auditors. The Act was stated to be effective from 1st April, 2014. 

Accordingly, queries are being raised by a number of members as to whether any auditor’s report of a company being signed on or after 01st April, 2014 would be in accordance with the requirements of section 143 of the Companies Act, 2013.

In this context, it may be noted that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has, on 04th April 2014, vide its General Circular No. 08/2014, clarified that the financial statements (and documents required to be attached thereto), auditor’s report and Board’s report in respect of financial years that commenced earlier than 01st April, 2014 shall be governed by the relevant provisions/Schedules/rules of the Companies Act 1956. This MCA Circular is attached below for the perusal.

Attached Circular:

http://ch.cahelpers.in/RhSxwu

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Therefore, it is clear from MCA’s aforesaid General Circular that the auditor’s report of a company pertaining to any financial year commencing on or before 31st march 2014, would be in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act, 1956 even if that financial year ends after 01st April 2014. For example, where the financial year of a company is 01st January 2014 to 31st December 2014, the statutory auditor’s report signed therefor would be in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act, 1956.

As a corollary to MCA’s General Circular, it appears that the provisions of the 2013 Act would apply only to the financial years commencing on or after 01st April 2014. Thus, for example, the statutory auditor’s report signed in respect of the financial year of the company ended 31st March 2015would need to be issued in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013.

Source:

icai.org

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Companies (CSR) Rules, 2014 notified by MCA under Section 135 of The Companies Act, 2013 - News & Download Rules

Continuing its last spree of reforms before the code of conduct for the General Elections kicks in, the government on Thursday notified the much-awaited provisions mandating companies to plough back at least 2 per cent of their net profit on upliftment of the society.

The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has notified Section 135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013, which relate to corporate social responsibility (CSR) that will be effective from April 1, as part of the new Companies Act. The norms will apply to companies with at least Rs 5 crore net profit or Rs 1,000 crore turnover or Rs 500 crore net worth.

Download The Notification issued by MCA on 27th February, 2014

Click Here to download

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These companies will have to spend 2 per cent of their three-year average annual net profit on CSR activities in each financial year, starting from FY15. “The rules have been finalised after extensive consultations with all stakeholders and provide for the manner in which CSR committee shall formulate and monitor the CSR policy, manner of undertaking CSR activities, role of the board of directors therein and format of disclosure of such activities in the board’s report,” said an official statement by Sachin Pilot, minister of corporate affairs.

According to the norms, the CSR activities will have to be within India, but will apply to foreign companies registered in the country.

The ministry, which has also listed out permissible activities, said companies will need to take approval from their board for CSR activities in accordance with its CSR policy and the decision of its CSR committee.
While activities such as donating funds to political parties or spends to benefit own employees and their families will not be counted as a company’s CSR, the government said that activities such as promoting preventive health care and sanitation, setting up homes and hostels for women and orphans and livelihood enhancement projects would qualify.
To decide if a company is eligible for mandatory CSR spending, its profit from overseas branches and dividend received from other companies in India will be excluded from the net profit criteria.
A company can also carry out CSR works through a registered trust or society or a separate company, but they can only spend up to 5 per cent of total CSR expenditure on manpower in a single financial year. This would be applicable for own personnel as well as those of their implementing agencies.
The ministry had, late last year, issued draft rules for CSR activities by India Inc and had sought public comments. Welcoming the final norms, experts said that companies will now have to gear up to implement their CSR programmes under the final rules that will be effective in just a month.
“The CSR rules released today have answered many questions. The time taken for release of the rules is justified by the clarity the norms have brought out in comparison to the draft rules,” said Santhosh Jayaram, technical director, Sustainability and Climate Change, KPMG.

Sources :
1. MCA
2. The New Indian Express

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Guidelines for IPCC Pass-Outs (Applying For Articleship & Registration For CA Final)

We at CA helpers believe in helping others and thats what our name as well as tag-line also suggests. We are of the opinion that helping is our religion. In order to help all IPCC passouts and New students who have done B.Com (direct entry route) and existing articled assistants, we have brought so many things. But to help you in efficient way, we are listing those posts at one place. Thanks for your support...


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD RESUME (C.V.) FOR ARTICLESHIP APPLICATION

As such there is no due date to apply for articleship and CA Final. But If you want to get your attempt in the due attempt itself, i.e. 3 years from the attempt of IPCC G-1 clearance (eg. For Nov. 2012 attempt passout - due attempt will be Nov. 2015) then apply for articleship and CA Final before 30th April (Nov. attempt passouts)/31st October (May attempt passouts). But it is advisable to get register and get franking/stampping done,in one month from the day of announcement of result.

PRACTICE TO BE FOLLOWED FOR  ARTICLESHIP & CA FINAL-

1. Search the Appropriate Firm

WHAT IS GOOD FIRM? WHAT TO SEE BEFORE APPLYING FOR ARTICLESHIP? (CLICK HERE TO READ)

=> Our advice to all of you to go for the medium firm.

=> Which gives you exposure in all kind of traditional and modern CA works.

=> Leave for exams will be given as per your requirement (Better to define these boundaries before starting articleship)=> You can attend classes daily=> Less outstations

If you are going for in Big4 then you may have to sacrifice classes and leaves.


Importantly, we are just expressing our views, you may have a different opinion. Its just an advice to our fans.


Search Firms for articleship

ARTICLESHIP FIRM SEARCH ENGINE across the India

2. What to be kept in mind

Try to join the firm of person who is known to you, or where any of your known person has done articleship. As many firms are very strict for outstations, leaves and extension. That may be a problem if you are not defining terms of your employment (articleship) before starting the articleship.



3. MOST MOST IMPORTANTLY

Many people, fill up the forms on very first day of articleship. This is a wrong practice. you will have to work in the particular climate for next 3 years, you must be at least comfortable with the environment of the particular office. First, Do work on trial in firm of your choice for 2-3 days.



4. FORMS and OTHER FORMALITIES

A) Forms Required for ARTICLESHIP

i. Form 102

To be purchased from ICAI chapter. It is necessary to get form 102 franked from a bank near by you with Rs. 100 stamp (remember only form 102 requires franking and franking is to be done within 1 month of exam result or you can extend this upto 30th April/31st oct., so as to make your attempt due on time). It is to be filled up by you and signed by your principal.

ii. Form 103

To be purchased from ICAI chapter. It is to be filled up by you and signed by your principal.

iii. Form 112

(Applicable to only, who are engaged in any other full time course with CA, i.e College or any business)

To be taken free of cost or from ICAI chapter (downloaded from here) . It is to be filled up by you and signed by your principal as well as your college's principal (B.Com pursuing students).


B)Form for registration in Final

To be purchased from ICAI chapter. It is to be filled up by you and signed by you.


5. Formalities

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FILL UP Form 102, 103 & 112(if applicable) and GET THEM SIGNED for starting articleship, must be done before 31st March / 31st October. After getting all forms duly filled and signed, SUBMIT the forms personally to ICAI branches or forward them by speed post to Region H.O.


You may download any forms relating to CA course (available online) @
http://cahelpers.blogspot.com/2011/06/all-ca-forms-at-one-place_1306.html

Regards,
Team CA helpers

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