ICAI raises concerns over CA Act Amendment Bill to Parliamentary Panel

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has raised concerns over the CA Act amendment bill to the Parliamentary panel.

The Board’s views on the provisions, including the one pertaining to the constitution of the disciplinary committee, to BJP member Jayant Sinha-led Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, which is looking into the bill.

The ICAI President Nihar N Jambusaria said that ICAI has already submitted our memorandum to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance. They are going to hear on February 3.

"We are asking that the current status be maintained and they are proposing that even the presiding officer should be non-CA... we are saying that if a non-CA becomes the presiding officer, the person will not understand the nitty-gritty of accounting standards, auditing standards, ethical standards and it would be difficult for him to make a judgment in any case," Jambusaria said.

Presently, ICAI President or Vice President is the presiding officer of the disciplinary committee.

"There are two government nominees and at present, we take unanimous decisions... if they want three non-CAs, then at least the presiding officer should be a CA," he stressed.

"We are seeking an amendment since nobody has a database of CA firms in foreign countries. It would not be possible for the ICAI to find out whether the name proposed by any new firm is similar to the name of a firm existing in any other country, other than India," he pointed out.

With respect to the proposal to set up the coordination committee among the institutes, the ICAI President said the committee's terms of reference should be confined to only coordination. "They have covered some more areas and we are asking them to drop (them) as, after all, the three institutes are autonomous bodies," he added.

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