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INDIA
BUSINESS WORLD -
OCTOBER 2005
THE MONTH THAT WAS
GOM CLEARS CHANGES
TO ACCOUNTANTS LAW
The group of ministers
(GoM) reviewing the three bills to amend the law governing
chartered accountants, cost accountants and company secretaries
today cleared them after giving a hearing to the professionals.
The amendments
will allow accountants to set up multi-disciplinary partnerships
as well as advertise their services in a limited way. Multi-disciplinary
partnerships would allow them to provide a one -stop solution
to corporates by bringing together professionals from other
disciplines such as law.
Of the three self-regulators
for the profession, only the Institute of Chartered Accountants
of India (ICAI) had asked for an audience to share their concerns.
The bills will now go to the Parliament in the winter session.
The amendments will also provide for a two-tier disciplinary
mechanism. There would be two platforms to deal with small
and big offences separately and an appellate authority the
aggrieved could approach. This appellate authority will redress
grievances of professionals from all the three streams.
Besides, the amendments,
CA bill will provide for a special audit of the cash rich
ICAI. Sources said ordering this audit would be the discretion
of the governing council of the institute and not the government.
The government is represented in the council. If the ministry
receives complaints of inappropriate management of
funds, it will be referred to the council. Besides government
nominees, the responsibility to ensure transparency will rest
with the other members of the council too. ICAI believes its
56 year's history demonstrates that a special audit is not
needed as an independent firm has been auditing its book of
accounts.
The GoM comprised
home minister Shivraj Patil, commerce minister Kamal Nath,
law minister H R Bhardwaj, finance minister P Chidambaram,
heavy industries minister Santosh Mohan Dev and company affairs
minister Prem Chand Gupta.
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