Society News

On enactment of the Companies Act, 2013 has resulted in a paradigm shift in the requirement of reporting by the Statutory Auditors on adequacy of Internal Financial Controls system and the operating effectiveness of such controls.

An additional role the auditor is required to play in the current environment and which is considered very onerous is that of the role of a whistle blower. The Companies Act, 2013 has introduced provisions whereby the auditor has to report certain category of frauds to the Central Government by following the procedure laid down through Rules u/s. 143(12).

The reporting under CARO is not new to the auditors. However, after substantial deletions in the reporting requirements under CARO, 2015 as compared to CARO, 2003, on replacement of CARO, 2015 by CARO, 2016, there have been addition of some clauses which require reporting on compliance of sections 185, 186 and 188 of the Companies Act, 2013.

In view of new regulatory norms coming into effect for the Statutory Auditors to report upon, a Full Day Workshop to understand the intricacies of these three onerous reporting requirements was organized by BCAS on 15th July, 2016, at M.C.Ghia Hall, Mumbai. There were three sessions which dealt with Internal Financial Controls for Small and Medium Enterprises, Fraud Reporting under Companies Act, 2013 and CARO Reporting under Companies Act, 2013.

The inaugural address was by the President of BCAS CA Chetan Shah, who informed the participants which included many non-members, about the benefits of association with BCAS and how one can accelerate gaining professional expertise through the knowledge sharing platform of BCAS.

Later, CA Himanshu Kishnadwala, Chairman of the Accounting & Auditing Committee, briefed the participants about the importance of each topic of the Workshop.

The first session speaker CA Ms. Nandita Parekh dealt with the topic of Internal Financial Controls for Small and Medium Enterprises in very simple and lucid manner which simplified the understanding of the subject and provided the participants useful tips on the approach to deal with IFC reporting.

CA Sandeep Shah was the speaker for the second session on Fraud Reporting under Companies Act, 2013. He dealt with the process to be followed for fraud reporting as well as the circumstances under which fraud reporting has to be done as Statutory Auditors. He shared his vast experience with the participants.

The concluding session was on CARO Reporting under Companies Act, 2013 and the speaker was CA. Vijay Maniar. His presentation dealt with the new clauses introduced through CARO, 2016, modified clauses of CARO, 2015, retained clauses and the omitted clauses. He then dealt with each clause in detail and shared practical insights on how to report on each clause.

The Workshop was attended by 170 plus participants and it was encouraging that the mix of participants was both from practice and industry.

The participants had a satiating experience of knowledge enhancement at the end of the Workshop.

Lecture Meeting on Ethics and You-Practical Issues held on 3rd August, 2016

A lecture meeting on Ethics and You-Practical Issues was held on 3rd August, 2016 at BCAS Office, 7, Jolly Bhavan 2, New Marine Lines, Mumbai which was addressed by CA C. N. Vaze who explained the meaning of Ethics and Code of Ethics and practical aspects, relevance, importance and necessity of Ethics in

present day professional environment. He pointed out that Ethics means moral values. It was easier to be principled but difficult to be ethical. One can be transparent; but one

needs to be accountable.He mentioned that Code of Ethics is needed to ensure credibility which is the foundation of any profession including CA fraternity and it should always be our motto to meet society’s expectations. He also enlightened the audience about the source and present image of the code of ethics being followed by the society at large. He further touched upon the common observations on Ethics and important pronouncements of ICAI on the issue. Thereafter important principles and broad procedure of Code of Ethics were highlighted. He also talked about important amendments brought about by the Chartered Accountants (Amendment) Act, 2006, a few important items of misconduct and disciplinary proceedings, technical lapses and remedies thereof to tackle these issues. Some case studies were also briefly taken up.

The meeting was attended by over 60 participants. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by CA Ms. Jyoti Malkani, GM-BCAS.

Workshop on NBFC held on 4th August 2016

NBFC sector is growing at a substantial pace but it is RBI’s endeavor to ensure prudential growth of the sector, keeping in view the multiple objectives of financial stability, consumer and depositor protection, and need for more players in the financial market, addressing regulatory arbitrage concerns while not forgetting the uniqueness of the NBFC sector.

In view of regulatory norms being notified on a frequent basis, there being changes in Statutory Audit requirements and increased scope of Internal Audit, to provide assurance to the management of Internal Controls over Financial Reporting being operational and effective, it was felt imperative to have a Workshop on NBFC.BCAS organized this Full Day Workshop on 4th August, 2016 at Allhambra Hall, St. Regis Hotel, Palladium. The Workshop was structured into four sessions which dealt with Important Aspects of Prudential Norms & Compliances, Statutory Audit Aspects under the Companies Act, 2013, Internal Audit Perspective for
NBFCs and Internal Controls over Financial Reporting for NBFCs. Before the commencement of the Workshop, there was a release of BCAS Publication “Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR) – A Handbook for Private Companies and their Auditors”, authored by CA. Nandita Parekh. The book was released by President of BCAS Mr. Chetan Shah.The Workshop started with the inaugural address by BCAS President CA Chetan Shah, who provided his view points on the importance of NBFCs in the overall development of the financial sector in India. Later CA Himanshu Kishnadwala, Chairman of the Accounting & Auditing Committee, introduced the structure of the Workshop.The first session was conducted by CA Bhavesh Vora, who lucidly dealt with the important aspects of prudential norms & compliances. While dealing with the same, he also took participants through the overall maturing of the NBFC sector over last three decades and gave valuable insights on the functioning of the various categories of NBFCs.The second session dealing with Statutory Audit aspects under the Companies Act, 2013 was addressed by speaker CA Manoj Kumar Vijai. He dealt elaborately with the unique requirements while conducting audit of NBFCs and shared his vast experience with the participants.The third session post lunch was on Internal Audit perspective for NBFCs which was addressed by the speaker CA Smita Gune. She made the session very interactive and shared her experience of internal audit of banks and financial institutions. She provided practical insights internal audits of NBFCs.Last session was taken up by speaker CA Huzeifa Unwala, who dealt with the topic on Internal Controls over Financial Reporting of NBFCs. He explained the overall requirements of IFC, how to test the operating effectiveness of the controls and took up the instances relating to NBFCs to provide practical insights on testing the controls while dealing with NBFCs.

The Workshop was attended by 70 plus participants and it was heartening to have more participants from the industry. Overall the Workshop was an enriching one for the participants.

FEMA Study Circle Meeting held on 4th August 2016

A FEMA Study Circle Meeting was held on 04th August, 2016 where CA Dhishat B Mehta led the discussion on the topic of “Issues relating to Determination of the Residential Status under FEMA”. Large number of members participated in this meeting. 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 discussed at length. The Group Leader also pointed out substantive difference in the definition of “Resident” under FERA and FEMA. He also took the 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. He also pointed out challenges in determining residential status of a second generation branch, office controlled by resident, political asylum and involuntary stay in India. In all the members got a complete understanding as to how to determine residential status under FEMA of an individual and other entities. CA Dhishat B Mehta set the tone for learning of FEMA through series of meeting planned ahead.

A total of 34 participants attended the meeting.

 

 

Workshop    on Permanent Establishments – from Constitution to Attribution – a Case Study based Analysis

A Workshop on Permanent Establishments – from Constitution to Attribution – a Case Study based Analysis was held on 5th August, 2016 at BCAS, 7, Jolly Bhavan 2, New Marine Lines, Mumbai where the Speakers CA Amar Mehta and CA Shreyas Shah took up the case studies on Geotech, Bold and Beautiful, Blessed Life, and RailCo.In the workshop, Profit Attribution rules of the establishments were discussed and also  far Identification including the case studies on Distributor and TOLL MFG. At the end, Triangular Situation of Income, Expense and Profit was reviewed and analyzed.A total of 114 participants attended the workshop.

Partnership Firm is a very old and established form of business entity and has witnessed changes in certain procedural aspects over the years. With a generation leap, Limited Liability Partnership [‘LLP’] is a recent hybrid form of business entity. The Seminar was organized to get an insight about the procedural aspects of both the forms of business entities.CA Chetan Shah, President of the Society welcomed everyone. CA Kanu S. Chokshi, Chairman of the Corporate & Allied Laws Committee briefly introduced the subject.

CA Uday Sathaye took the participants through the procedural aspects of formation and registration of a partnership firm under the PartnershipAct 1932 including drafting of a partnership deed. He emphasized on simple, unambiguous and diligent drafting of a partnership deed. He also dealt with the frequently faced issues at the time of formation and registration of partnerships.

Mr. Saurabh Shah explained the step by step procedure for formation of a LLP and also conversion of a partnership firm or a company into LLP. He gave a birds’ eye view of the procedural differentiation between a partnership firm vs. company vs. LLP, and also global comparison with UK LLP and US LLP. He mentioned that the recent amendments clearly spelt out the provisions relating to conversion of a LLP into a company.Both the speakers responded to the queries of the participants.Programme was coordinated by CA Preeti Oza. A total of 53 participants attended the Seminar

The Meeting was jointly organized by Suburban Study Circle with Indirect Tax Laws Study CircleGroup leader CA Kush Vora explained the decision of Delhi High Court in case of Suresh Kumar Bansal vs. UOI. It was held that no service tax could be charged in respect of contracts entered into by buyers with the builders for acquiring flats in a complex which is under construction. While the legislative competence of the Parliament to tax the element of service involved cannot be disputed, but the levy itself would fail, if it does not provide for a mechanism to ascertain the value of the services component which is the subject of the levy.

Chairman CA Vikram Mehta then deliberated on the implications of the judgment with regard to refund of the service tax, time barring provisions, application in current scenario, contrary decisions etc.

Further the group leader explained the decision of Maharashtra State Tax Tribunal in case of M/s. Sumer Corporation vs The State of Maharashtra wherein it was held that construction of building for Slum Redevelopment Authority in exchange for transferable development rights (TDR) is taxable under the MVAT Act. The group then discussed the implications of above judgment on taxation of barter transactions.

The participants were benefited from the presentation and experiences shared by the chairman and the group leader.

A total of 20 participants attended the Study Circle.

Tree Plantation Drive 2016 – Visit to Dharampur – on 6th – 7th August, 2016

A visit to Dharampur was organised for two days by the Human Development and Technology Initiation Committee of BCAS jointly with BCAS Foundation, for Tree Plantation project and visit to various NGOs,at Dharampur, who are engaged in the various welfare activities for Holistic growth of Tribals located in the remote interiors.

ARCH (Action Research in Community Health) Foundation –This NGO has been founded and managed by Dr. Daxaben Patel, which is 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, well child care, etc. The BCAS Foundation contributed Rs. 25,000/- towards their noble activities.Vanpath Trust – Founded and managed by Mr. Bhikhubhai and Smt. Kokiben Vyas, this NGO works for integrated and holistic growth of villages at Kaprada in Dharampur. Kokiben explained about the challenges faced by the villagers in agriculture, education and other basic needs of their lives. She also explained about the urgent need of planting more and more trees so as to prevent adverse effects of rapid deforestation in the future.

Due to heavy rains over there, entire life of one of the nearby villages named Avalkhandi was disturbed. There was severe damage caused to Roads/ Bridges/ crops etc. In view of helping them to rehabilitate from this nature’s fury, the BCAS Foundation contributed Rs. 25,000/- to Avalkhandi Kelavni Trust.

Sarvodaya Parivar Trust (SPT)– The SPT is a NGO, following Gandhiyan philosophy, engaged in various tribal welfare activities in the field of Education / Health / Agriculture / Water management/ Environment etc. Here a tree plantation project at village Pindval- Darbaarfalia was carried out with enthusiastic participation of the local community of the farmers, The BCAS Foundation committed for plantation of 5,000 trees here. All the members distributed saplings amongst the farmers of Pindval as planned and then moved on farms for actual plantation of trees, the members wholeheartedly participated in the drive as guided along by the farmers, who are poor and marginal, for plantation of trees. Around more than 200 Trees were planted by all members themselves, during the day over three to four different farms. The majority of trees planted were Mango and others were Custard Apple, Guava, Mahagony and Bamboo Trees.

The team also visited the Residential School run by the SPT which is home to more than 350 children from nearby villages. Members had good interactions and time with them. SPT makes sure that all the children study till 8th standard and then help them getting admissions in schools in nearby towns/cities like Valsad, Surat, Vadodara etc. for further studies. This residential school has encouraged poor labourers and farmers in the tribal areas to send their children for further studies. It has helped in reducing child labour, child marriage and other social evils which takes place mainly due to illiteracy and poverty. On behalf of BCAS foundation, team distributed 2 sets of outdoor games like cricket set/ Football/ Badminton set/ Flying Disk etc and 110 Educational Games at SPT for the children of Aashramshalla.

The Tree Plantation Drive and the trip was truly an enriching, enlightening and educational Trip for the members visited. The memories treasured from trip, would always encourage and motivate them to participate more in such events which would be ultimately beneficial for the society at large.

A Team of 28 enthusiastic volunteers (including 15 from youth group) who were willing to take active participation in this noble mission joined the trip and carried out tree plantation and various other activities.

BREXIT and its Global Effects held on 8th August 2016

The International Economic Study Circle Meeting on BREXIT on 8th August, 2016 at BCAS

The speaker Divya B. Jokhakar explained the history of European Union and Britain. Explanations on how UK is one of the most industrialized country in the world was given. She factually discussed the Schegen Treaty and it’s implication on the EU and its countries. During the discussion queries were raised as to how the migration of people into UK or out of UK of British will be affected due to UK voting for the Referendum.

Impact of Brexit on European countries and also China was explained. The speaker explained its trade impact, the repercussion on financial markets and also the relationship of these nations with the USA.

India was mentioned not to be really affected as a nation leaving EU, could not affect India and it’s trade with the trading partner. The issue of the possibilities of UK wishing to re-bond relations with India in order to keep the trading relations alive was debated. Whether world could be affected majorly by Social media was discussed as was the possibility of UK not quitting even though it voted for the exit.

A total of 26 participants attended the study group.

 

Human Development Study Circle Meeting on ‘Dear Stress ….. Let’s Break Up” on 9th Au-gust, 2016 at BCAS Conference Room

The discussion was led by Dr. Nirmee N. Shah (Consultant Psychiatrist), MRC Psych CCT-UK, MSc Clinical Pharmacology. She has a particular interest in complex psychotic disorders and substance misuse besides other common mental health disorders.

She spoke on the meaning on stress, types of Stress, recognizing Stress, managing Stress and what it means to have mental and Physical Health.

She mentioned some learnings from this presentation followed by interaction through questions and answers. A total of 37 participants attended the Study Circle.

 

Direct Tax Study Circle Meetingon ‘Tax Consequences on Forex Transaction’ held on 11th August 2016

The Group leader, CA Vallabh Gokhale which is chaired by CA Sanjeev R. Pandit had meticulously discussed a divergence of views on the treatment of forex transaction to be meted out in the books of accounts and the Indian
Tax Laws covering the plethora of decisions. Further, with an increased flow of inbound/outbound transactions and their complex dynamic structuring, the tax treatment of foreign exchange gains/losses had been surrounded by huge litigation and decision of various courts were discussed in great detail.

The Group leader, had covered various aspects including position as per ICDS which is briefly outlined hereunder:

–    Exchange fluctuation difference – Landmark judgement of Hon’ble SC in case of Woodward Governor India P. Ltd1 and Sutlej Cotton Mills Ltd2

–    Exchange fluctuation on capital account – Discussed the issues under section 43A (per pre and post amendment)

–    Foreign currency derivatives

At the end, various issues were touched upon which one could face keeping in mind FEMA exposure. Further, based on the existence of diverse views on the captioned topic it was discussed to give proper disclosure in accounts as well as under the income tax in order to mitigate penalty exposure and maintain robust documentation.

Lecture Meeting held on 19th August, 2016 in memory of Late Narayan Varma.

The First of the Annual Series of Lecture meeting in memory of Late Narayan Varma commenced on 19th August on his birthday (20th August). The Series was conducted by 3 organizations to which he was closely associated with namely BCAS & BCAS Foundation, PCGT & Dhrama Bharati Mission. Ms Aruna Roy, a Social Activist was the guest speaker for the evening. The meeting was held at K C College, Churchgate, Mumbai.

The session commenced with the lighting of lamps by the Presidents of the 3 organizations and Mrs. Varma along with Ms. Aruna Roy. This was followed by lecture for the evening “RTI in India’s Democracy- Audit by, for and with the people” by Ms. Aruna Roy. Late Narayan Varma had always been a very strong supporter of RTI and always talked across people groups in society to promote and educate them on RTI. Ms. Aruna Roy also a strong supporter for the similar cause described her journey along the same path with Late Narayanbhai. She further talked about the scope of Social Audits and way it has brought about good governance in different parts of the country. Social audit helps in questioning the system for utilization of government funds to the public at large. It facilitates the distribution system to be answerable to the end consumer. Ms. Aruna Roy informed the audience about the various cases of such audits which have brought a lot of discrepancies to light and the necessary actions taken thereon.The second part of the session was the awards session where a category of awards were defined in Memory of Late Narayan Varma for individuals who have done tremendous social work voluntarily for the society. Each organization had nominated one person for the same.

Mr Rashmin Sanghvi from BCAS & BCAS Foundation, Professor R. S. S. Mani from the Dharma Bharati Mission & Ms.Jinal Sanghvi from PCGT, Each organization’s president handed over the award to the awardee.

BCAS & BCAS Foundation nominated Mr. Rashmin Sanghvi for the award as the Society felt that no one other than him suited the position because he had two dreams (i) To help at least one hundred Indians become experts in international taxation and FERA; (ii) To help hundred beggars become financially independent. Since 1987 he has been pursuing both the dreams. As far as FERA & International Taxation are concerned, the spread of the knowledge in India is known.

As far as helping the poor is concerned, so far it was not very well known amongst chartered accountants. It was only in the year 2016 that Mr. Sanghvi published his Gujarati book – “Dharma na Prayogo” and many chartered accountants came to know about his social service. This year happens to be 30th year of his pursuance of both dreams. And at the age of 65 years he is still pursuing. In the year 1987 he started helping hutment dwellers in Vadala. From there, he moved to Kutch in 1992 & Surendranagar in 1994 helping farmers & rural poor in water management. In the year 1998 he went to Dharampur forests in Valsad district. He realised that even with annual rainfall of 150 inches, Dharampur tribals faced acute water shortage in the period of February to June every year. He started helping local NGOs in building check dams and other forms of water management in Dharampur.

In the year 2001 Gujarat was hit with a serious earthquake. Mr. Sanghvi participated in the earthquake relief work with Narayanbhai Varma, Pradeepbhai, Mr. V H Patiland others. BCAS, Chamber of Tax Consultants & other associations jointly provided earthquake relief. In the year 2004 east coast of India was hit with Tsunami. At that time also Mr. Sanghvi participated with BCAS

Foundation in the Tsunami relief work. Again, this was under the leadership of Late Shri Narayanbhai. In the year 2010, he met Ms. Mittal Patel and started helping her in providing relief to the nomadic communities. BCAS Foundation has also helped Ms. Mittal Patel’s NGO – Vicharta Samuday Samarthan Manch (VSSM) through organisation of programme – Udat Abeel Gulal in the year 2015. All these experiences have sharpened his knowledge & understanding of spirituality.

The award was received by Mr. Pradeepbhai Shah on behalf of Mr. Rashmin Sanghvi as he was travelling. The session ended was concluded with a well-deserved Vote of thanks by BCAS Immediate Past President Mr. Raman Jokhakar who chaired the event as the president Mr. Chetan Shah was travelling.

A total of 100 participants attended the meeting The program ended with the National Anthem.

Interactive session for the Students held at RVG Hostel on 20th August 2016.

human  development and technology initiatives (HDTI) Committee of BCas jointly with  RVG  hostel (rajasthan VidhyarthiGruh) organized a special interactive meeting for students pursuing CA.  the theme of the programme was “Success in CA exams”

At the beginning, the President of BCAS CA Chetan Shah welcomed the participants, the Chairman of HDTI Committee CA Nitin Shingala gave specific guidance to the students such as avoiding distractions like WhatsApp, Social Media, etc.

CA Srinivas Joshi (Past Member of Central Council and Examination Committee of ICAI) and CA Mayur Nayak (Past President and Chairman of HDTI Committee of BCAS) were the faculty members for the programme.

Highlight of Srinivas Joshi’s Presentation

•     Clarity of goal & Commitment    to succeed.

•     Planning & Managing time for preparation

•     Scheduling the intensity of one’s study.

•     Selecting qualitative/ key study materials

•     Focusing on conceptual clarity

•     Discussing important topic with friends and like-minded colleagues regularly

•    Importance of studying publications and study materials of the ICAI.

•     It is extremely important to practice problem solving and writing notes.

•     Attempting mock test papers in exam like conditions.

•     Selecting properly the questions while taking the exam.

•     Reading questions accurately and have focused answers.

•     Keeping emotional composure is essential while appearing for each paper.

He also touched upon few other tips for practical guidance for ensuring success rate and clarified on points for which students carry wrong notions.

Highlight of Mayur Nayak’s Presentation:

• Setting SMART Goals in terms of when to qualify with what desired percentage of marks/ score?

• Putting goal plan into action.

• Coping up and balancing emotional and intellectual pressure.

• Overcoming factors like discouragement, defeat, peer pressure

• Dealing with fatigue, sense of burn out and recharging.

• Significance and importance of working sincerely during articleship.

• Identifying biological rhythm and one’s physical and mental strength

• Study the most difficult subject when one is fresh/ upbeat.

• Optimum utilisation of the commuting time for recapitulating the concepts

• Group discussion help to clear doubts on intricate topics.

• Essential to focus on physical fitness and exercise.

• Chanting”japa” and engagingin contemplation regularly and consistently helps to overcome emotional and mental fatigue.

In conclusion, he helped participants with 20 minutes of guided meditation.

The organisers had also invited three rank holders Ms. Zeel Shah, Mr Chintamani Shukla and Mr Aman Kariwala of CA Exam held in May 2016. They shared their experiences with regard to their individual preparation. Their excellent tips matching with thoseof senior faculties were very useful.

Equipped with the useful tips provided by the faculty and seniors, students left feeling charged, confident and determined to perform. About 90 students attended this programme.

Experts Chat @ BCASSharing Insights on Winning in the Global Market Place

BCAS organized a programme on Experts Chat @ BCAS – “Sharing Insights on Winning in

Global Market Place” on 23rd August, 2016 at its Conference Hall, Mumbai in which eminent Speakers Mr Lee Frederiksen, PhD who specializes in professional services and Mr Nishith Desai, Advocate, addressed the audience. They also participated in a conversation to make it more interactive, narrative and thought provoking for the participants present.The event was streamed alive to enable our members to participate online and several members joined and benefited from the expert chat.

The event started with the welcome address by CA Narayan Pasari, Vice President, BCAS who mentioned that this was a new format of meeting initiated by the Society. It was followed by the release of the new BCAS Publication, Income Declaration Scheme-2016 by the hands of Mr Lee Frederiksen, Mr Nishith Desai and CA Ameet Patel, Chairman of Taxation Committee who introduced the publication. Mr Ameet Patel felt that one must spot and seize the opportunity to attain the success in life. Mr Bhadresh Doshi author of the publication was also present. Mr Nishith Desai, applauded the wonderful efforts of Mr Bhadresh Doshi, Author of IDS-2016 Book along with Mr Sanjeev Pandit and Mr.Gautam Nayak who guided and mentored Mr Doshi in vetting the publication in great detail.Mr Nitin Shingala, Chairman of Human Development and technology initiatives (HD&TI) Committee then introduced the subject of the chat. He talked about Network changes and that one should be more creative and innovative in using the network and expertise in Small and Medium Enterprises which are the most vulnerable in the present environment.

Mr Nishit Desai in his interaction mentioned that Brain Count and not Head Count is important to be positive and confidant and nothing deters you from thinking big.

Mr Lee Frederiksen then made a small presentation on Winning in the Global Market Place. He described the role and importance of referrals in brand building. He mentioned that expectations are changing and one to one relation is becoming a reality now. He also explained the distinction between the Referral Marketing and Sponsorship Marketing. Under referrals, social relationship i.e. attending a meeting/speech/seminar, reading an article, book etc and social media and networking sites such as website online search, online referrals and online search help a lot in generating business. Similarly, Sponsorship is another source of attracting the attention of clients in building the market space. However, in comparison, Sponsorship is the single largest marketing expense in the organizational marketing strategy. Mr Lee also gave more emphasis on the level of expertise and skills the professionals should possess while interacting with the clients and marketing their products like core competency in dealing with clients within the profession and outside the profession. Greater the expertise, greater the expectation in achieving and sustaining business growth. Therefore, professionals must have the ability to display and nurture expertise in building, developing and tracking capabilities. The expertise should be visible so as to market the consultancy services/ products to professionals/clients to make the small and medium firms into big enterprises and conglomerates.

After Mr Lee’s presentation, the dais was set for an interactive chat between Mr Lee and Mr Nishith before the audience and online viewers. Mr Nishith Desai raised some key issues relevant to the professional fraternity which were responded by Mr Lee Frederiksen

After the above chat, Mr Nishith Desai thanked the chief guest Mr Lee and Question and Answer session was opened to the floor. Many questions raised were answered by Dr Lee.

A total of around 70 participants attended the Experts Chat @ BCAS with an equal number live on the stream. The programme was very interactive and well appreciated by the attendees with a huge round of applause. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by CA Mr Kinjal Shah

 

 

 

Joint Seminar on Internal Financial Controls and Reporting under CARO, 2016 at Ahmedabad held jointly with Chartered Accountants Association, Ahmedabad on 23rd August, 2016.

Accounting and Auditing Committee of BCAS, with a vision of focussing increased engagement of the Society with its members by reaching out to them at their doorsteps, took a step in this direction by joining hands with Chartered Accountants Association, Ahmedabad and organising release of a BCAS Publication “Reporting under CARO – A Compilation” at Ahmedabad along with a Joint Seminar on Internal Financial Controls for Small and Medium Enterprises and Reporting under CARO, 2016. This was thought apt, since the compilers of the publication CA. Viren Shah and CA. Jeyur Shah were from Ahmedabad.

The Joint Seminar was held on 23rd August, 2016, at Shantinath Hall, Ahmedabad Branch of WIRC of ICAI, “ICAI Bhawan”, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad. The Joint Seminar was very well attended by 130 plus participants.The inaugural address was by the President of Chartered Accountants Association, Ahmedabad, CA Rajubhai Shah. He was very delighted to have BCAS joining in the knowledge sharing journey at Ahmedabad and conveyed desire to have more such joint programs for the benefit of the BCAS members in Gujarat as well as its own members. CA. Mukeshbhai Khandwala, past President of Chartered Accountants Association, Ahmedabad and member of BCAS, spoke about the long association of the two organisations which had lost connect for some years and was glad that the efforts have again been made to have exchange of professional learnings. Later, President of BCAS, CA Chetan Shah, was invited to share his thoughts. He also conveyed the feeling that BCAS was eager to extend its reach and go to the doorsteps of its members to serve them in their professional pursuit. He informed the participants about the activities of the BCAS and requested the non-members to join BCAS. His address was followed by Accounting and Auditing Committee of BCAS, Chairman, CA. Himanshu Kishnadwala, who informed the participants of the relevance of the topics chosen for the joint seminar. The first session was on the topic, “Internal Financial Controls for Small and Medium Enterprises” which was addressed by CA. Himanshu Kishnadwala. He in his inimitable style with relevant illustrations and useful tips dealt with the topic with finesse and relieved the members of the stress which was felt while dealing with IFC in small and medium enterprises.

CA Abhay Mehta was the speaker for the second session on “Reporting under CARO, 2016”. His presentation covered the recently introduced clauses and modified clauses. Later he took the participants through each clause, the relevance of such clauses and the practical way of collating information for reporting under each clause.

This session was followed with brief ceremony of release of the BCAS Publication “Reporting under CARO – A Compilation” at the hands of Past President of ICAI, CA. Sunil Talati. During his brief address he acknowledged the efforts of the compilers of the publication. He also praised the BCAS and its journal for serving the profession. He also appreciated the efforts of BCAS and CAA to reach out to the members with joint programs.

An interactive session was arranged post lunch where the posers relating to the two topics discussed in the morning session were provided to the speakers. CA Himanshu Kishnadwala replied to the IFC posers as well as some of the CARO posers. CA Abhay Mehta replied to the CARO posers.

The joint seminar was acknowledged by the participants as a knowledge gaining experience.