The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Chartered accountants’ body plans New York chapter

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Friday, Jun 13, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Chartered accountants’ body plans New York chapter

Special Correspondent

To address skills shortage, ICAI plans to generate a
base of Tier II accountants

CHENNAI: India’s premier body of accounting professionals envisages an overseas chapter in New York, an international course with country-specific curriculum and establishing centres of excellence across India to train students in soft skills, Ved Jain, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), said on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Jain said ICAI was aware of the need to avoid complacency and adapt to global changes. To address the skills shortage in the country, it proposed a set of measures, including generating a base of Tier II accountants. The two-year Accounting Technician Course, which provided a degree higher in value than B.Com or M.Com, was expected to generate at least 50,000 professionals in the first year.

ICAI will also tap into the sizeable constituency of CA Intermediate-qualified candidates, who were unable, for various reasons, to pursue the programme further, by granting them automatic equivalence with chartered technicians, Mr. Jain said. It has also revised its curriculum to ensure that qualifying students are abreast of the latest changes.

Centres of excellence

A major initiative being launched in partnership with various State governments is the establishment of centres of excellence, Mr. Jain said. They would provide a mix of skill sets developed for information system and IAS professionals.

The Rajasthan and Karnataka governments had allotted land for the centres. Currently, the programme was being run through the National Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad.

ICAI’s New York chapter, “to be opened in a few months,” will serve the critical function of liaison between professionals of the two countries and act as a conduit for outsourcing work to India.

It will also coordinate continuing professional education programmes and provide a tuition outlet for the student diaspora. ICAI has chapters in Dubai, Riyadh, Botswana, London and Sydney.

“We are also working on an international course in chartered accountancy by incorporating country-specific company and taxation laws, starting with West Asia,” Mr. Jain said.

Nod for advertisements

On the recent decision of ICAI to allow practising professionals to advertise their services within some parameters, Mr. Jain said this would benefit small and medium practitioners raise their visibility, something the bigger firms already enjoyed.

The rationale for the decision, apart from joining the global trend, was also to allow CAs to effectively compete with providers of consultancy services other than auditing.

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