Dear readers, This is my first communication to you after having assumed office as the President of the Society. I am conscious that this is an honour and a great responsibility. I am sure that with your good wishes, the support of my predecessors, my team of office bearers and the BCAS staff, I will be able to measure up to the confidence you have reposed in me.
In my address as the incoming President, I had stated that if the Society’s programmes are to be carried out with the same zest and zeal, younger entrants to the profession must join the Society. As I pen this communication, the CA final results have just been declared. My congratulations to all those who have been declared successful. Three young girls have bagged the first three positions in the merit list. At a time when the media is filled with gender bias even among educated sections of the public, this is heartening news. Like in many other fields women are poised to make a mark in our profession. As per the statistics of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI):
? For 50 years since Independence, 8% of CAs were women
? The number of women CAs will increase to 30% in the next decade from the current 16%
? In the decade 2000-2010, 16% of the 1,70,000 CAs in India were women.
It is my earnest desire that these young talented chartered accountants should join the Society. This will make the programmes of the Society even more vibrant.
Mergers and acquisitions among professional firms is the order of the day. In that light the announcement of ICAI to recognise limited liability partnerships (LLP’s) is significant. Notifications in that regard will follow. I believe this is a great opportunity for many medium-sized firms to network, collaborate and eventually merge. The Society is alive to these developments, and a power summit was held a couple of months ago to facilitate interaction between professionals who wish to take steps in this direction. If the number of large firms undergoes an increase, the quality of service will be enhanced.
The progress as regards new tax legislation seems to have slowed down considerably. The report of the Select Committee of the Parliament on the Direct Tax Code bill (DTC) is yet to reach the Parliament. It is unlikely that DTC will be passed before the end of this year. If that happens the DTC may have to be postponed by at least a year. Even on the GST front the efforts to build a consensus do not seem to have made much headway. One only hopes that all political parties give the necessary priority, as the absence of this legislation is increasing both, tax cost and compliance cost.
While new tax legislations are making slow progress, the accounting standards are also causing some concern. We already have IFRS, and Ind AS. On the auditing front internal audit standards have also been prescribed. We have just been informed that CARO 2011 will replace the existing CARO 2003.
While we are on accounting and auditing standards, I believe that our profession needs to seriously introspect on the multiplicity of these standards and their relevance to the users of financial statements. We are rendering a service and the authentication function that we perform should have utility for the users of the financial statements. Undoubtedly the users of our services have different needs and it is virtually impossible to have tailor-made legislation or regulation to meet individual requirements. However while framing accounting standards this aspect of the matter must be considered. The financial statements that we authenticate must be comprehensible to the readers of those financial statements. In this connection, CARO 2011, which will probably prescribe different reporting requirements for different categories of companies, is most welcome. This may be a step in the right direction and different users will get the type of assurance they require and the type of information they desire.
When this issue reaches you, our country will be on the threshold of celebrating its 64th Independence Day. Despite the large number of problems that our country faces, one is absolutely certain that we have come a long way since 1947. There can be a debate on whether we will become an economic superpower or not, but it is certain that India has become relevant to all the nations of the world. For the last two decades, barring a couple of years we have witnessed sustained economic growth. I hope that we will be able to control the inflationary trends, particularly food inflation. As in every developing country, we face problems of disparity in distribution of wealth. The distribution of the fruits of economic growth is unequal.
It is this economic disparity that extremist elements exploit. The continuous terrorist attacks on our country in general and our city in particular are a cause for grave concern. As the commercial capital, the city of Mumbai will always be a target for those who want to create disharmony among us and disrupt our lives. The recent serial bomb blasts on 13th July 2011 are a sad reminder of this fact. We need to force our government to take all the necessary steps to prevent any such recurrence. As individuals we should remain vigilant.
Before I sign off, I appeal to all readers to give their feedback, on all the activities of the Society including this Journal. At the Society we strive for excellence. If we are informed of the areas of improvement it will help us. Remember, this is your Society and by informing us and making suggestions you will be helping yourself and your colleagues.
I take this opportunity to wish all readers a very happy and peaceful Independence Day. Jai Hind !
With warm regards,
