Society News

Technology Initiatives Study Circle

Study Circle Meeting on “How to Write Macros in Excel” held on 23^rd July, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall

Technology Initiatives Committee conducted a Study Circle Meeting on “How to Write Macros in Excel” on 23^rd July, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall which was led by CA. Nachiket Pendharkar, who is a corporate trainer for MS Excel and Excel VBA and Founder & CEO of ViN Learning Centre, a Corporate Training Institute.

1. Nachiket Pendharkar very systematically dealt with the topic by providing step by step procedure with examples of recording macros in Excel. He gave the clear understanding of the topic and meticulously covered the importance of Macros in Excel, Excel VBA and Macro Basics.

The study circle was truly enthralling and participants appreciated the in-depth insights given by the learned speaker.

Lecture meeting on “Impact of Technology on the role of Auditors” held on 1^st August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall

A lecture meeting on topic “Impact of Technology on the role of Auditors” was held on 1^st August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall which was addressed by  CA. P. R. Ramesh who dealt with impact of technology on audit and future of auditing.

CA Sunil Gabhawalla, President, BCAS introduced the Speaker and gave opening remarks while explaining about BCAS activities and also touched upon the subject in brief.

During his presentation, the Speaker discussed and explained various nuances of information technology, the history of technology and its future, with various real life examples. Along with the references to various data and figures, he explained the exponential growth in  business due to the impact of technology. He also deep dived into the  future of Audit profession and changes expected in the audit procedures as well as the role of auditors due to the impact of technology on business. He highlighted the necessity for the audit professionals to invest in technology and keep abreast with the latest technology to be relevant in the demanding and everchanging landscape of the profession.

The lecture meeting also provided a hands-on guidance to the participants, many of whom were young members. The lecture was followed by Q & A session and the Speaker replied to all the queries of the participants in a very lucid manner.

Direct Tax Laws Study Circle

Study Circle Meeting on ‘Tax Implications owing to Ind-As’ held on 2^nd August 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall

Taxation Committee organised a Direct Tax Laws Study Circle on the captioned subject at BCAS Conference Hall. The Convenor of the study circle CA. Nilesh Parekh gave his opening remarks. The Group leader, CA. Bhaumik Goda gave a brief overview of the applicability of Ind-AS provisions to companies in India and prevailing direct tax provisions including MAT.

Thereafter, the group leader briefly explained the tax impact on account of Ind-AS and the presentation of the financial statements. Various examples and case laws were discussed and questions were taken with respect to the relevant sections. The group leader touched upon the key areas of change in Ind-AS 16- PPE and discussed an illustration reflecting impact of ‘spare parts’ and ‘site restoration expenses’ in the books of the company. Journal entries and effects in the transition period were discussed in detail. Further, CA. Bhaumik Goda explained the impact of Ind-AS 27- Separate financial statement wherein the impact on the provisions of section 14A and Rule 8D were also discussed followed by discussion on Ind AS 102- Share based payment where deductibility of ESOP expenses was deliberated on and an illustration pertaining to group ESOP was analysed in depth. The session was concluded by discussing aspects to be considered during the transition period.

The meeting was quite participative and the participants benefitted a lot from the session.

Half Day Workshop on “Preparation of Consolidated Financial Statement Under Ind AS” held on 2^nd   August, 2018 at Reliance Industries Ltd, RCP, Ghansholi

The Accounting and Auditing Committee organised a half day workshop on preparation of Consolidated Financial Statements under Ind AS on 2^nd August, 2018 at RIL, RCP, Ghansoli. The event saw attendance of over 80 participants including outstation participants.

The workshop was hosted by RIL at their RCP facility and began at board room where Mr. Murthy from RIL welcomed all the participants. He then briefly introduced Reliance University and played a video presentation to make participants aware of Reliance University etc.

CA Nihar Jambusharia, Vice President, Taxation at RIL and Central Council Member and Chairman of Ind AS Implementation Group of ICAI gave his welcome speech and briefed members about the activities his committee at Central Council of ICAI is undertaking. President CA. Sunil Gabhawalla gave the opening remarks regarding the activities at BCAS. He also thanked RIL for hosting the workshop. Chairman, Accounting & Auditing Committee, CA. Himanshu Kishnadwala in his remarks briefed the members about how the idea of holding this workshop at RIL was conceptualised.

The faculty, CA. Raj Mullick in his opening remark said that RIL is able to achieve this only because of use of Technology, Systems and Discipline and Co-ordination amongst business and accounts. He said that it is a continuous process which results into such an achievement.

He then went on to present the participants through the whole process his team at RIL does on weekly basis, monthly basis and quarterly basis including meeting with the business CFO’s, functional CFO’s and how the accounts are aligned with business and how MIS are aligned to accounts. He also explained how external audit is completed up to the period of nine months  and the complete set of CFS along with all the notes and disclosures are prepared up to the period of nine months. These financials act as a trial run for the audited financials for the period of 12 months.

Lastly, he shared with  the participants the ambitious goal set before his team of providing weekly CFS to the CFO’s and every month they will come up with complete set of financials.

The session ended with the closing remark and well deserved vote of thanks given by CA. Chirag Doshi who quoted RIL founder late Shri Dhirubhai Ambani “Meeting Deadline is not enough, beating Deadline should be
the norm”.

The participants got fully mesmerised with the insights given by the Speaker.

Tree Plantation Drive 2018 – Visit to Dharampur, Valsad – Gujarat 4^th – 5^th August, 2018

In constant endeavour to contribute towards Grow Green Drive together with rural economic development, the Human Resource Development Committee of BCAS jointly with BCAS Foundation organised Tree Plantation Drive in the tribal areas of Dharampur District, Valsad – Gujarat on 4^th and 5^th August, 2018. This noble task was carried out with the help of the Sarvodaya Parivar Trust. Enthusiastic team of 37 volunteers and majority from the youth team participated to carry out this noble mission.

Sarvodaya Parivar Trust (SPT) – This NGO’s goal is to empower the tribal people, making them increasingly self-reliant by engaging in various tribal welfare activities in the field of Education, Health, Agriculture, Water management, Environment, Public Awareness programmes, etc. With help of local farmers, the team assisted in planting saplings of Custard Apple, Teak and Bamboo Trees in outskirts of Khadki village and also distributed Mango saplings to the farmers. BCAS Foundation committed to plantation of 10,000 trees and made contribution of
Rs. 3,00,000/- received through generous donations. The Team at SPT also showed the plant nursery where they have cultivated over 70-80 varieties of saplings over last five years and has assisted in developing above 47 Gram Vans over 45 acres of land.

The team of volunteers visited the Residential School run by the SPT at Pindval. The students here are trained in real life experiences and chores and are made capable to handle school maintenance like housekeeping, kitchen duties etc. by allocating them various portfolios like Health Minister, Stores Minister, Garden Minister, etc., thereby making them responsible to face challenges.

Shrimad   Rajchandra     Ashram  –    Founder      Shri      Rakeshbhai Zaveri, an ardent devotee of Shrimad Rajchandraji,
is propounding the path of Bhagwan Mahavira and actualising Ashram’s mission statement – Realise one’s True Self and serve others selflessly. Thousands of aspirants congregated here for enlightening discourses, an array of meditation retreats and workshops. More than 250 centres worldwide mould the youth and children, shaping a brighter future for them. Societal Service activities are carried out through the ten-fold Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care programme which includes health, educational, child, woman, tribal, community, humanitarian, animal, environmental and emergency relief care. The team of volunteers was truly inspired & elevated hearing the discourses and were thrilled experiencing sanctity of the site.

ARCH (Action Research in Community Health) Foundation – This NGO was founded by Late Dr. Daxaben Patel focussing on Mother and Child Care as well as promoting awareness about basic health care and empowering people with Health Education in the tribal areas of Dharampur. ARCH currently provides primary health care services to approximately 25,000 patients mainly at Mangrol dispensary and at the Dharampur dispensary along with basic health education and preventive services such as vaccinations, prenatal care, child care, etc. BCAS Foundation contributed Rs. 51,000/- towards their noble activities.

It was truly an elevating and enlightening journey for the participants. Especially the youth members were deeply moved and felt blessed at the end of journey.

Lecture Meeting on “GSTN Portal: Experiences and Issues faced by Taxpayers” held on 8^th August, 2018  

Indirect Taxation Committee organised a lecture meeting on GSTN Portal: Experiences and Issues faced by Taxpayers on 8^th August, 2018 at IMC, Churchgate, which was addressed by Mr. Prakash Kumar, CEO, GSTN and Mr. Nitin Mishra, EVP Technology, GSTN. BCAS President CA. Sunil Gabhawalla in his opening remarks underlined the objective of the meeting.

The Speaker, Mr. Prakash Kumar started with various facts and data available at the back end of GSTN. The Speaker also explained the facts, that in India GST and its backbone called GSTN is settling quite fast. Both the speakers requested the participants to give suggestions on the new GST returns process and formats. Mr. Nitin Mishra explained why there are technical glitches faced by users. On this occasion, 2 BCAS Publications – “Laws and Business-A Compendium-Volume 1 and Volume 2” and “Anti Profiteering and GST – ? to !” were released.

The lecture meeting was followed by Q&A session and the speakers thoroughly answered the queries of the participants. The participants got enlightened from the insights provided by the learned speakers.

FEMA STUDY CIRCLE

Study Circle Meeting on “Overview of FEMA” held on 9^th August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall 

International Taxation Committee organised a FEMA Study Circle Meeting on 9^th August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall where CA. Natwar Thakrar led the discussion on the topic of “Overview of FEMA”. The Group Leader deliberated upon nuances of determining residential status of an individual and other entities including branch. The concepts such as “Intention”, “Uncertain Period” and “Resident” were explained at length. The Group Leader also pointed out the journey of the country’s foreign exchange reserves right from FERA period (1991) to FEMA (1999) and the current date scenario. He mentioned that the journey of study is still continued and in the next schedule of meeting, case studies on determining residential status of – Indian citizen coming to India, Indian citizen leaving India, Foreign citizen coming to India, Foreign Citizen leaving India , Post-marriage stay of a foreigner in India , Student etc., will be discussed. The study circle is all set for learning of FEMA through series of meetings planned ahead.

The participants found the subject very interesting and got valuable inputs from the learned Speaker.

Suburban Study Circle

Suburban Study Circle Meeting on “Auditing Tools in Tally ERP 9” held on 10^th August, 2018 

The Suburban Study Circle organised a meeting on “Auditing Tools in Tally ERP 9 on 10^th  August, 2018 at Bathiya & Associates LLP, Andheri (E) which was addressed by CA. Punit B. Mehta.

The speaker demonstrated directly from the software of Tally ERP various shortcuts and available auditing and compliance tools which were easy to understand and which effectively reduce the time involved by the audit team. He also explained various customised add on options available in the software which can be purchased as per Company’s need. The speaker also shared techniques for faster viewing of data and how to extract legder wise analysis along with their shortcut keys and how to get direct extracts in the revised schedule III format etc.

The participants got valuable insights from the presentation shared by the speaker.

Full day Seminar on “Tax Audit” held on 11^th August 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall

The Taxation Committee organised a full day Seminar on Tax Audit on 11^th August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall. President CA. Sunil Gabhawalla gave the opening remarks. The following topics were taken up at the Seminar by the learned Speakers:

CA Ashutosh Pednekar started the first session highlighting the audit aspects in Tax Audit. He took various examples and scenarios where one has to apply his/her audit skills while performing or documenting Tax Audit and also highlighted the evolution of Tax Audit right from year 1984 to date. He further discussed about the recent changes and the Do’s and Don’ts one should keep in mind while performing Tax Audit and also the importance of documentation in Tax Audit, citing the onerous responsibilities of a tax auditor regarding the same.

CA Saroj Maniar explained about the impact of ICDS and Ind AS on various clauses in Tax Audit Report. She also pointed out various issues arising out of accounts prepared on fair value mechanism under Ind AS and tax accounts under ICDS mechanism and then dealt with clauses dealing with presumptive taxation.

CA Bhaumik Goda spoke on new clauses inserted in Tax Audit report regarding secondary adjustment, limitation on interest deduction, GAAR and CBCR. He spoke on the various practical issues while reporting the information for the new clauses with examples and case studies. He also informed participants that now a tax auditor has to make himself aware of basic international tax and transfer pricing provisions before performing
tax audits.

CA Bhadresh Doshi spoke on clauses allotted to him and discussed the issues and the reporting requirement arising from them. His immense experience on litigation helped the participants to know the jurisprudence on various issues arising from the said clauses. He also guided participants on how one should report on such clauses.

CA Jagdish Punjabi addressed the last session of the seminar covering large number of clauses. He along with chairman CA. Anil Sathe explained how reporting under section 269 SS, section 269 ST and section 269 T needs to be done. He also discussed on clauses related to TDS and shared his views on what and how one should report in new clause related to GST and Non GST expenses breakup.

The sessions in the Seminar were interactive and the speakers shared their insights on the subject. The participants benefited immensely with the guidance and practical views on various issues by the faculties. The event garnered overwhelming response and saw an attendance by over 156 participants including 40 on the new BCAS e-learning platform and also outstation participants from 11 cities/towns.

HRD Study Circle

Study Circle Meeting on “CREAM Analytics (Measuring Governance – Return on Intangible) held on 14^th August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall

Human Resources Development Committee organised a study circle on “CREAM Analytics (Measuring Governance – Return on Intangible)” presented by CA. Jayaraman Rajah Iyer, on 14^th August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall.

The discussion took place emphasising the following:

1. Measuring Corporate Governance is measuring Profits, with the derived formula for the theme ‘Measure Cost Consequence Now, Now, Now’ as a corporate theme to strengthen the Corporate Governance process measuring on the go.

2. Return on Investment is not sufficient anymore because measuring corporate fiscal assets usage is limited in its utility without measuring corporate ethical assets usage. Return on Intangible is the only way out for corporate measuring for an optimised performance and usage of both fiscal and ethical assets and deconstructing what is valueless.

3. By Principle #5 Emergent Property Phenomenon, the discussion took place on the three principles within: (1) Conformability with Nature, (2) Simplicity and (3) Unreasonable Effectiveness on the corporate change management similar to a yogic exercise, for a company to becoming fit without any financial burden, under the theme “You don’t add something more to get something more.”

The participants learned a lot from the session delivered by the experienced Speaker.

Indirect Tax Study Circle

Study Circle Meeting on “Input Tax Credit Provisions under GST Act. (Part -1)” held on 20^th August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall

Indirect Taxation Committee conducted a Study Circle meeting on 20^th August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall which was led by the Group Leader CA. Parth Shah and chaired by CA. Udyan Chokshi and CA. Ishaan Patkar.

The Speakers made an in depth analysis of provisions relating to Input Tax Credit under GST. Each sub-section of provisions contained in section 16 were deliberated by the members which ignited very healthy discussion amongst the participants. All the members actively participated in discussion and appreciated the quality of issues deliberated during the session. It was a good learning experience by the participants.

“Interactive meeting with representatives of TRACES and NSDL” held on 22^nd August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall

The Taxation Committee organised an interactive meeting with representatives of TRACES and NSDL on 22^nd August, 2018. The meeting was addressed by Mr. Deepak Wayal, Asst. Manager of NSDL, and Mr. Purshottam from TRACES, Ghaziabad to discuss issues in filing and revising eTDS statements.
After the welcome address and introductory speech by the President CA. Sunil Gabhawalla, Mr. Deepak Wayal explained the role of NSDL in eTDS processing. NSDL role is preparing the utility to be used for the preparation of the eTDS returns, and also the file validation utility. He made a short presentation on the interplay of various key processes involved beginning with payment of TDS and ending with credit in payee’s Form 26AS and issue of TDS certificates by the deductors. He discussed reasons for which demands are raised on TRACES site, due to incorrect feeding of data while filing the statements and the precautions which need to be taken while filing the same.

Thereafter, Mr. Purshottam who had travelled all the way from Ghaziabad, explained functionalities available on the TRACES website, and how the same have changed in the last decade. He also explained reasons why demands are raised on TRACES and how the same can be avoided. He also took the delegates present through the new upcoming changes both in the short term and in the long term. The long term changes also include use of block chain technology in eTDS processing. He also briefed the members present about the new proposal to apply for and issue lower / NIL TDS certificates under section 197 / 195 online, which will reduce human interface.

Both the speakers took all the questions not only from the floor, but also those raised by online participants who were viewing the event as a live webinar. The interaction was highly appreciated by one and all present, both offline and online and the participants got enlightened on the subject.

Students’ Study Circle on ‘Audit from Article’s Perspective in recent times’ and ‘Important Clauses and Recent Amendments in Tax Audit Report (Form 3CD)’ held at BCAS Conference Hall on 23^rd August, 2018

The Students Forum under the auspices of HRD Committee organised a Students’ Study Circle on the abovementioned topics on 23^rd August, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall.

The study circle was led by student group leaders Mr. Vishal Manwani and Ms. Surabhi Tawade under the mentorship of CA. Chirag Doshi. CA. Rajesh Muni, Chairman of the HRD Committee gave his opening remarks and encouraged students to actively participate in the events organised by the Students Forum. Mr. Jimit Doshi, the student co-ordinator introduced the mentor, group leaders and briefly explained the topics.

The motive of the study circle was to make the students aware of the recent developments in Statutory Audit and Tax Audit from the article’s perspective and highlight the new reporting requirements in Tax Audit report (Form 3CD). Both the group leaders covered their respective topics in an interactive manner and shared their practical experience on crucial issues.

CA Chirag Doshi guided the students on the increased responsibility of auditors in the current scenario and gave them useful tips to perform an effective audit. Overall, the study circle was a perfect blend of technical depth and practical insight.

CA Raj Khona, Incharge for Students Activities then briefed the participants about the forthcoming events which will be organised by the Students Forum and encouraged them to come forward to lead study circles. Ms. Neelam Soneja, the student co-ordinator thanked the group leaders and mentor for sharing their knowledge on the subject for the benefit of the participants.

The study circle proved to be a wonderful experience for the students in attendance. The feedback from the participating students was very positive.