‘FINALISATION IN ZOHO BOOKS’
The Technology Initiative Committee of the BCAS organised a two-hour webinar on ‘Finalisation in Zoho Books: Challenges and Features’ on 1st May, 2021.
Jigar Shah gave an overview of the finalisation of books of accounts in Zoho Books. The session was interactive and the speaker demonstrated and addressed the following aspects:
1. Challenges that arise when finalising books of accounts for the first time in Zoho Books;
2. Do’s / Don’ts and aspects to take care of while finalising;
3. Key tailor-made / customisable reports to look out for;
4. Key features which can enable users to complete work with greater efficiency and effectiveness; and
5. Productivity aspects in audit finalisation.
The participants were offered an insight into using Zoho Books to finalise their audit and how to mitigate or resolve the issues and challenges that they might face in their audits.
FELICITATION OF ICAI PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT
A virtual meeting was organised by the BCAS on 5th May to felicitate newly-elected President Nihar Jambusaria and Vice-President Dr. Debashish Mitra of the ICAI.
Past Presidents, Managing Committee members and core group members of the BCAS and office-bearers of the sister organisation, the Chamber of Tax Consultants, joined the felicitation. Invitees, Central Council members of the Western Region of ICAI and office-bearers of the WIRC were also present.
All those present at the meeting joined in welcoming and congratulating the President and the Vice-President of the ICAI and the Chairman of the WIRC.
BCAS President Suhas Paranjpe welcomed the new President and Vice-President of the ICAI as well as the Chairman of the WIRC. He also acknowledged the presence of the other invitees and pointed out that BCAS can join hands with ICAI for many an initiative for the benefit of the profession at large.
The meeting provided an interesting platform for the exchange of views, ideas and suggestions with the torch-bearers of the regulatory body. Several suggestions were made by the participants about how the image of the profession could be improved, how it could be perceived as an institution for nation-building, how students and their training programme could be reoriented, how ICAI could become more effective in conveying to the Government the genuine issues and grievances of various stakeholders and how it could portray its human face by projecting the various welfare activities that it is conducting.
The participants also requested the new team of the ICAI to throw light on the digital initiatives and the roadmap of the ICAI to deal with various challenges posed by the technological disruptions, the constantly changing arena of the legal framework and the rules and the ecosystem under which the profession operates. The ICAI President was also requested to give his thoughts on the new areas of opportunities for the professionals.
Both the new President and the new Vice-President of the ICAI gave a patient hearing to the suggestions and explained the various initiatives that the ICAI has taken and the rapid strides it has already made to address the various points raised by the participants. They elaborated on the background work done by various committees to create a digital hub and a training and guidance note to deal with new challenges.
ICAI President Nihar Jambusaria stated that after considerable background work the ICAI had been able to develop a ‘Digital Competence Maturity Model’ for members to assess themselves on their digital competence and decide the way forward. He also spoke about the social initiatives and reorientation of the training curriculum for students. He agreed with various suggestions made as regards the need for reskilling of professionals and threw light on some of the initiatives in that direction.
He gave the example of the technology audit tools that the ICAI is developing for the benefit of members and informed them that these will be available to them at almost no cost. He also spoke about the initiative for the MSME sector through the creation of 20 incubation centres. He assured members that a consultative process was going on with the MCA to address various issues on company law to help India achieve its goal of ‘Ease of Doing Business’.
The meeting was conducted in a positive atmosphere and offered great insight into the vision, foresight and plans of the new team at the helm of the ICAI. BCAS Vice-President Abhay Mehta proposed the vote of thanks.
‘AMENDED PARTNERSHIP PROVISIONS AS PER FINANCE ACT, 2021’
The Direct Tax Laws Study Circle held a meeting on ‘Amended partnership provisions as per the Finance Act, 2021,’ on 7th May.
Group leader Bhadresh Doshi gave a brief overview of the proposed provisions in the Bill vis-à-vis the final provisions on the enactment of the Finance Act, 2021. The rationale for the new provisions was discussed based on the Memorandum to the Finance Bill, 2021.
Thereafter, he took up the issue of whether the provisions of sections 45(4), 9B and 48(iii) lead to double taxation. Subsequently, Bhadresh discussed issues relating to multiple assets scenarios and multiple reconstitutions with illustrations. Finally, the impact of the provisions on the waiver of debit balance and stock in-trade were discussed in depth with reference to certain judicial precedents.
