Society News

The revised roadmap for implementation of Indian Accounting Standards (IndAS), the converged accounting standards in phases to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has already been released by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This has instilled realisation amongst the industry and professionals alike to gear up for the impending implementation of the IndAS. BCAS as a front runner in imparting knowledge had organised the 6th Residential Study Course from 18th to 20th February, 2016 at Hotel Rhythm, Lonavala. The RSC was structured in a manner where sessions were based on case studies prepared by eminent professionals covering different aspects of IndAS implementation. These three case studies based papers involved group discussions through groups formed amongst the participants, led by knowledgeable group leaders. There were two more papers for presentation by eminent faculty which provided the impact of IndAS on the topics allotted to them.

Immediately after the reporting of the delegates on the first morning, there was a session of group discussion on the first paper by Mr. Ramesh Lakshman on “Case Studies on Fair Value in IndAS & its Applications”. The case studies were highlighting the complexities involved in valuing financial assets and liabilities.

Later on, post lunch, there was the inaugural session. The session commenced with the inaugural address by the President of BCAS, Mr. Raman Jokhakar. He expressed satisfaction to the response received to the course from all over India and was particularly happy to have a strong participation from industry. Subsequently, the Chairman of the Accounting and Auditing Committee, Mr. Harish Motiwalla, gave his introductory remarks on the design and structure of the course and the purpose of selection of the topics for group discussion as well as for presentation.

After the inaugural session was the presentation on the first paper by Mr. Ramesh Lakshman, who aptly dealt with the case studies and also covered the issues raised during the group discussion in a very immaculate manner. After his presentation on the first paper on fair valuation, Mr. Ramesh Lakshman dealt with the Presentation paper on “Foreign Exchange Accounting under IndAS”, where he dealt with the salient aspects of the standard on Forex Accounting and also brought out minor differences from the existing accounting standard.

The Second day started with group discussion on paper by Mr. Zubin Billimoria on “Case Studies on Consolidation (Incl. Foreign Subsidiaries)”. The case studies highlighted the intricacies in determining control, which is of utmost importance to consider entities which should form part of consolidation process. Later, Mr. Billimoria made a presentation on his paper and shared his vast experience, which was of immense value to the participants. Mr. Rajesh Muni ably chaired the session.

In the evening, there was a presentation on the topic of “Impact Analysis of Conversion to IndAS on Energy & Commodities Industry (Incl. Disclosure Standards)” by Mr. Sanjay Chauhan. He shared his rich experience in energy and commodity sector by co-relating to the impact on financials on adoption of IndAS. The session was ably chaired by Mr. Kanu Chokshi.

The last day commenced with group discussion on paper by Mr. Rakesh Agarwal on the topic “Case Study on ensuring completeness in identifying GAAP differences between Indian GAAP and IndAS, with Comprehensive Listing of such differences”. Mr. Rakesh Agarwal had circulated major GAAP differences between the existing accounting standards and IndAS. These differences were the base to analyse eight companies’ financials which he had circulated to be discussed in the groups.

Immediately after group discussion, there was a special session which was to felicitate Mr. Nilesh Vikamsey on his election as Vice President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Mr. Nilesh Vikamsey was felicitated by BCAS President Mr. Raman Jokhakar, along with Co-Chairman of Accounting & Auditing Committee, Mr. Rajesh Muni, Past President Mr. Himanshu Kishnadwala and BCAS Vice President Mr. Chetan Shah. Mr. Nilesh Vikamsey shared his views on the roadmap of the Institute regarding IndAS as well as other important areas of interest for the CA fraternity.

Later, the penultimate session was addressed by Mr. Rakesh Agarwal along with a presentation on the topic and also dealt with the queries raised by the participants during group discussion. The session was chaired by the Past President Mr. Nitin Shingala.

The concluding session was presided over by Mr. Rajesh Muni and he acknowledged contribution of the faculty as well as active participants for the success of the RSC. Some of the participants gave their views on the course and conveyed their satisfaction to the format and structure of the course.

Public Lecture Meeting on “Direct Tax Provisions of the Finance Bill 2016” held on 4th March 2016

Every year, the most awaited event is the budget. What the Finance Minister unfolded on 29th February 2016 with respect to the direct tax provisions was covered in the Public Lecture Meeting held on 4th March 2016 by Senior Advocate Mr. S. E. Dastur. This was the 51st Budget Lecture Meeting of the Society and 28th year of address by Mr. S. E. Dastur. This year the Society has captured pre budget expectations and post budget inteviews from the stalwarts and the youth. Just before the lecture began, a series of views of various people on the budget were taken by Mr. Ameet Patel. All these videos are available on our website as well as Youtube channel and also on social media.

The lecture meeting was witnessed live by 3,000 plus audience at the venue and around 4,000 viewers online over live streaming of the event. President Raman Jokhakar welcomed the speaker Mr. S. E. Dastur. Mr Dastur started his speech by detailing the sections and chapters of the Income-tax Act. As he decoded the fine print and his interpretation on the various amendments, he brought to light the various challenges that were in store for the assessees while implementing these amendments. The various changes made by the Finance Minister were touched upon. This included section 12AA of charitable trust where an organisation ceases to be a charitable organisation and the changes with regards to the same, the changes with regards to lowered rate of tax for newly established manufacturing companies and articulated in detail the impact of the conditions attached to this section. He also addressed the changes with regards to presumptive tax and tax on foreign companies. The provisions with regards to pension funds & dividend distribution tax and the changes there in were also detailed. He further touched upon the various changes in the field of assessment procedures and its impact on the assessee vis-à-vis rights and duties of the assessing officers. Mr. Dastur added that while the government looks to moving to a technological efficient system, it may leave the assessee with no communication left with the department officials. Finally, he concluded the session by giving a title to the bill as a rationalisation bill as it gives rationalisation to pension funds, provident fund and national pension scheme. It speaks about rationalisation of the time limit for assessment and recomputation, rationalisation for time limit in search cases, rationalisation of provisions relating to ITAT , rationalisation of TDS provisions and rationalisation with respect to section 50C. The event ended with a vote of thanks by Jt. Secretary Mr. Sunil Gabhawalla and the enthralled audience left, having witnessed a mesmerising speech on the Budget Direct Tax Proposals.

Lecture Meeting on “Indirect Tax Provisions of the Finance Bill 2016” held on 10th March 2016

President Raman Jokhakar welcomed the speaker, Senior Advocate Mr. Vikram Nankani, an eminent speaker on the subject to throw light on the amendments of the changes by the Finance bill 2016.The lecture meeting commenced with the launch of the new publication of the Society “Partnership Firms – Registration Procedure and Frequently Faced Issues with Registrar of Firms” by Mr. Uday Sathaye, Past President of the Society. The book was launched by the speaker Mr. Nankani.

Advocate Vikram Nankani talked about the positive changes in various sections of indirect tax including Excise, Sales Tax, VAT and Service Tax.He detailed how the changes would impact various industries and sectorial growth. He mentioned the various changes in import and excise and how it would affect imports. He mentioned about how the levy of service tax on senior advocates will impact the availability of senior advocates for arbitration proceedings. This will affect the litigation procedures to a greater extent in the field of indirect tax. The speaker spoke about the various non CENVATA BLE cess and how the entire indirect tax regime is moving towards it. Finally, he concluded that though the changes brought about were impacting sectors and industries at large, how it would place its position in the GST regime was still to be explored. According to the speaker, the budget did not mention anything on the GST changes or implementations which needs greater ground for building a robust indirect tax structure.

The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by the Treasurer Mr. Manish Sampat who informed the audience about the forthcoming programs of the Society and appreciated the well-articulated talk by the speaker. The meeting concluded with a huge round of applause.

Publication on “Partnership Firms” launched on 10th March 2016

Professionals like CA’s, Advocates, Businessmen are finding it difficult to Register Partnership Firms with Registrar of Firms in Maharashtra due to various issues. This process of registration involves submission of documents and the careful adherence to a procedure which has been laid down.

The publication titled “PARTNER SHIP FIRMS Registration Procedure and Frequently Faced Issues with Registrar of Firms” will help resolving these issues. This publication has been authored by Mr. Udaya Sathaye, Past President of the Society.

Advance FEMA Conference held on 18th March 2016

The Society held its Annual Advanced FEMA Conference jointly with the Chamber of Tax Consultants on 18th March at IMC. This Conference was unique as senior RBI officials attended the morning session and provided their views on several queries prepared jointly by the respective International Taxation Committees of the two organisations. The organisations received overwhelming response to the Conference.

Past President of the Society, Mr. Dilip Thakkar provided his opening remarks and also chaired the interactive session. RBI was represented by a team of senior officials led by RBI Executive Director, Mr. B. P. Kanungo. Mr. Kanungo gave the keynote address dealing with a number of concerns of industry and practitioners. He also provided an insight into the RBI and Government thinking behind the present regulations. He gave an outlook of liberalisations by way of revised notifications which are in the pipeline.

His address was followed by the interactive session wherein the panel of RBI officers provided views on the written queries provided to them in advance. The queries covered all important areas of FEMA including those dealing with ODI, FDI, LRS, ECB and Trade transactions. The Officers answered the queries and also dealt with several questions from the audience.

The post lunch technical sessions was on “Trade Transactions” by Mr. Shabbir Motorwala who succinctly covered the vast subject in the time available with him. The last session was on “ECBs” wherein Mr. Kumar Saurabh Singh covered the recent amendments in the ECB policy and also dealt with the other financing routes available to borrowers. Both the speakers answered queries from the audience and covered the subjects in significant detail. The Conference was received well by all present.

Udat Abeel Gulal held on 19th March 2016

It was once again a proud moment for BCAS and BCAS Foundation to organise a music concert “Udat Abeel Gulal”, together with a few other organisations at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on 19th March, 2016 in aid of Dilasa Sanstha, an NGO engaged in relief work for drought affected farmers of Maharashtra. Attended by a large audience, it started with jugalbandi of Santoor and Saraswati Veena by Shri Snehal Muzoomdar, Maithili Muzoomdar on Santoor and Shri Narayan Mani on Saraswati Veena respectively, accompanied by a team of virtuoso musicians and interspersed with Vedic chants by Ved Pandit Dr. Narasimha Ghanpatigal. Explaining the theme “Bairagi se Basant”, Compere Mihir Sheth vividly created background atmosphere for celebration of spring with quotes from Kalidasa and Rig-Veda. Narrating the ethos of the theme and quoting medieval poet Maagh, he said when season of Basant arrives, its enchanting beauty feels us with a sense of bliss, Abeel and Gulal colour our lives, the fire of Holi protects our lives, give us the prosperity and hence, we all invoke Firegod Agni as narrated in Agnisooktam in Rig-Veda whose hymns are often chanted in raga Bairagi.

The Jugalbandi started with raga Bairagi rendered on Santoor and Saraswati Veena interspersed with chanting of Vedic hymns and then deftly moved on to raga Basant and Kafi, which are the popular ragas of the Basant season, accompanied by vocalists Shraddha Shridharni in Hindustani style and Nupur Joshi in Carnatic style. Both the vocalists recreated magic with their rendition of poet Nanhalal’s poems so ably composed by Snehal Muzoomdar. Fine balance of melodious music with perfect percussion and dramatic entry of vocalists on the stage left the audience completely mesmerised when it reached the crescendo in the end.

The second session “Hori Rasiya and Haveli Sangeet” began with an introduction of the session by compere Mihir Sheth, touching the hearts of the audience with his imaginative description of Hori (Holi) as a festival and narration of how it was played by Krishna and Gopis in Brindavan. Creating the atmosphere of ras, rang and sangeet, he said that going by the calibre of the artists present, the music of the second session was certain to fill the hearts of all present with unexplainable bliss appropriate to the festival of Holi. It indeed turned out to be ecstatic. The second session began with Hori and Rasya and Haveli Sangeet devotedly sung by Smt. Sraboni Chowdhury and Shri Saurabh Chaturvedi evoking great response from the audience. Each artist performed with a unique style, creating a sheer magic on audience which was deeply intoxicated with nectar of bliss as promised.

This event also provided opportunity to the audience to see the presentation of the great work being done by Dilasa Sanstha. Mr Ramesh Kacholia on behalf of Dilasa Sanstha explained the situation of drought in Maharashtra and the plight of the farmers. He explained the work being done and made an emotional appeal to the audience to be sympathetic to their cause.

EYE Camp 2016 at Vansda – Dharampur on 20th March 2016

The Human Development & Technology Initiative Committee continued with the annual CSR activity of supporting Eye Camp for the tribals and the needy people from the rural area surrounding Vansda, Dist. Navsari.

The Eye Camp was held from 18th March to 21st March 2016 at Sant Ranchhoddas Bapu Eye Hospital, Vansda, Dist. Navsari. This unique hospital dedicated to the poor and the needy was founded under the aegis of Dhanvantari Trust by respected Dr. Kanubhai Vaidya. Dr. Vaidya gave up a thriving medical practice in Mumbai and dedicated himself entirely to the socio-economic development of rural areas.

The Committee had set a target of one Eye Camp with a Budget of Rs.51,000/- for cataract surgery of 51 patients. However, with divine grace and kind support of all donor friends, it was able to collect Rs.2,17,200, which can take care of 217 patients i.e. little over four Eye Camps.

A team of nine volunteers from the BCAS visited the Eye Camp and the Hospital on 20th March 2016 to commend the excellent work being done by Dr. Kanubhai and team. Dr. Kanubhai narrated several other rural upliftment projects being undertaken by his NGOs. The team of volunteers and the Committee were inspired and will be exploring avenues for extending support for such worthy causes. Interested members are requested to contact CA. Meena Shah at cameenashah@gmail.com for further details.