By Deepak Shah, Nitin Shingala, Chartered Accountants
Recent Important Judgements in Service Tax
Mr. V Sridharan, Advocate, and Founder Partner of Lakhsmikumaran and Sridharan addressed the members on the subject of ‘Recent Important Judgements in Service Tax’ on 19th January 2011 at the IMC. The speaker in his interactive style covered various issues with regard to the constitutionality of various provisions enacted under the service tax law. The highlight of the lecture was the support the speaker drew from various precedents under Indian and foreign cases to explain the fundamentals regarding the constitutionality of levy of service tax.
At the outset, the speaker dissected in detail the provisions relating to levy of service tax on under construction flats and analysed the niceties of the decision of the Punjab & Haryana High Court upholding the constitutional validity of the same. Thereafter, he analysed the provisions regarding the retrospective validation of the amendment regarding the renting of commercial properties. He also dealt with the complex issue of overlapping jurisdictions of taxation in case of financial leases.
Before the end of the seminar, participants also got a chance to get their queries answered from the learned speaker. His enthusiasm coupled with his deep knowledge of the subject was well appreciated by the participants.
Government’s Initiatives on Electronic Credit for Income-tax Payments
Meeting was addressed by two senior executives from NSDL, along with Ms. Delnaz Mistry, Manager NSDL on Government’s Initiatives on Electronic Credit for Income Tax payments on 31st January 2011. They touched upon subjects of TDS, Quarterly statements, issues relating to mis-mactch, and allotments of Permanent Account Number. They also dealt with procedure for obtaining PAN by non residents.
The Power Point presentation covered various practical issues dealing with TIN, E-payments, Challan Status Enquiry, key points for preparation and submission of E-TDS statements, Quarterly Statement Status, Refund Status, Registration for viewing of Form 26AS and benefits of Form 26 AS.
Speaker brought out the common errors/ inconsistencies and gave practical suggestions to overcome the same. She also informed of new initiatives planned that are likely to be introduced in near future. The participants raised their queries and pointed out difficulties faced by them was and shared their experience. The meeting was highly interactive. NSDL officials promised all the help to members to sort out their difficulties.
Nani Palkhiwala Memorial Lecture
The Eighth Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial Lecture was held on 7th February 2011 at the Tata Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 on ‘The Emerging Scenario in Education’ and was delivered by Mr. Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development, Science & Technology & Earth Sciences, Communications & Information Technology, Govt. of India.
In the beginning the Sixth Nani A Palkhivala Civil Liberties Award was presented to Chaman Lal for the protection and preservation of civil liberties. The Award was presented by Mrs. Justice Sujata Manohar (Retd.).
Mr. Kapil Sibal presented the Vision 2020 of the Government of India in the field of education. He informed that the Government was committed to improve the education scenario in India. Enactment of the Right to Education Act was the first step in that direction. He emphasised the need for improving the ratio of school and college going children. By the end of the next decade India would need about 40,000 more colleges and about 1000 new universities. He also informed about the plan to connect colleges and universities through optical fiber which would enable students to learn online from any place and from any College/University.
He reiterated his Government commitment to reduce stress and tension associated with the present education system and assured steps to introduce comprehensive and continuous evaluation system.
He expressed hope and trust in Indian youth and promised them better tomorrow.
Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, 2011
Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, 2011, was held on 16th January, 2011. Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society supported the cause of education by registering as an NGO for the Marathon. Over 50 members participated from the Society and ran for the cause. The enthusiasm of the members was visible as they all supported the cause in good number irrespective of their age. Members not only supported for the DREAM RUN which was for 6 Km but also the HALF MARATHON of 21 Km & FULL MARATHON of 42Km.
Accounting & Auditing Committee
February 2011 was celebrated as the Internal Audit Month at BCAS. The month started with the launch of the seventh six days Internal Audit Studies Foundation Course at Hotel Parle International from 7th February 7, 2011 to 12th February, 2011.
The course received an overwhelming response with a full house with more than 50 participants from various locations including Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Nasik, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot.
The course commenced with the Chairman Mr Himanshu Kishnadwala, and Mr Mayur Nayak giving their opening remarks. The course was inaugurated by Smita Gune, a pioneer in the field of Internal Audit, with over 23 years of experience behind her. She spoke about the various opportunities and challenges that face the Internal Audit Profession and also shared with the participants various ways in which such challenges could be addressed. She also lucidly shared vignettes from her exciting journey.
Over the six days, participants were treated to a well-designed course which included:
- Positioning of Internal Audit in the Corporate framework.
- Evolution of Internal Audit, with specific reference to the Indian environment, regulatory framework facilitating Internal Audit.
- Preface to Standards on Internal Audit and relevant SIAs.
- Internal Audit Objective – Internal Controls,
- Compliances, Resource optimisation, Ethics and Governance.
- Internal Audit Process – planning (audit charter, audit plan, scope determination, scope review), resource mobilisation & pre-preparation.
- Internal Controls – the heart of Internal Audit, with Case studies.
- Basics of Risk Management and Risk Assessment.
- Situation analysis – Probing skills.
- Internal Audit – How to make an impact.
- Internal Audit Process – execution: field work and working papers.
- Internal Audit – Case Studies.
- Internal Audit in IT environment – orientation (i.e., specific focus on the need to understand, appreciate and utilise the IT environment of the auditee for effective Internal Audit), practical examples in Tally, ERP, web-based system.
- Internal Audit – Bag it, Sell it, Present it.
- Use of CAATS (for Internal Audit evidence collection).
- Building an Internal Audit Team.
- Data Mining & Analytics for Internal Audit.
The faculty, drawn from both the industry and profession, included Ms. Nandita Parekh, Mr. Bhargav Vatsaraj, Mr. Himanshu Vasa, Mr. Deepjee Singhal, Mr. Jairam Rajshekhar, Mr. Nikunj Shah, Mr. Shailin Desai, Mr. Ravindra Rao, Mr. Kunal Pande, Mr. Atul Shah and Ms. Preeti Cherian.
As part of the concluding session, the participants expressed their deep sense of gratitude to the Society for having conducted such a course which will enable them to provide quality service to their clients. The course concluded with remarks by Past President Mrs Narayan Varma who also distributed certificates to all the participants.
Human Resources Committee:
The Human Resources Committee of BCAS under the auspices of Amita Memorial Trust organised a workshop for its members and students on ‘Effective Communication and Public Speaking’. This workshop was held over three days in February 2011 at the Society’s premises.
Veteran HR trainers Mr. Murli Mehta & Mr. Vivek Patki were the faculty and the workshop had 32 participants. Initially, the basic process and the fundamentals of effective communication were dealt with. Participants were educated about important tools and practical tips on how to succeed in public speaking were imparted. The workshop was specifically designed for members and students keeping in mind some of the most difficult communication issues students and members face while interacting with other people. The motivators also conducted useful exercises on confidence building when speaking in public, ability to overcome anxiety and nervousness when preparing for public and techniques to enhance personal public speaking styles were explained.
The workshop provided personal attention to each participant with constructive and effective feedback along with performance appraisal. This was an excellent opportunity to practice and assess the strengths and ability to use and control ones voice more effectively. The participants were made aware of use of non-verbal signals and physical appearance while speaking.
All the participants were happy with the workshop and the feedback received from them was very encouraging.
After two days of practice the participants were given assignment to prepare and make a five minutes speech on the concluding day. The topics were contemporary and marks were allotted for all the important aspects like opening of a speech, body language, eye contact, gestures, content, overall impact, timing and conclusion. Three judges were called to judge and give their feedback. Six useful management books were distributed to the first three winners and three consolation winners. President Mayur Nayak, Vice President Pradip Thanawala, Past Presidents Pradeep Shah and Rajesh Muni and Managing Committee member Manish Sampat were present at the inauguration and concluding of this workshop. The judges who graced the occasion were Mr. Nitin Shingala, Mr. Mukesh Trivedi & Mr. Kinjal Shah.
