Dear professional colleagues, |
In India, October begins with celebrations of the birthday of the Father of the Nation. Long before the smart CRM tools found their way into our daily lives, Mahatma Gandhi had emphasised on Customer Satisfaction. He said “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so." |
'It is a pleasure to note that as required, the Government has already constituted the GST Council immediately after the Presidential assent, which will be a key body to decide on the functional modalities of GST, including tax rates, cess and surcharges, and the first meeting of this Council took place in New Delhi on 22nd-23rd September 2016, with the Government running ahead of the schedule in the matter regarding GST implementation.' |
Some of the most significant professional developments that have taken place over the last month are: |
We Welcome President’s Assent to GST Bill |
Implementation of the GST regime, the biggest tax reform since Independence, is now a step closer with the Hon’ble President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee recently giving his assent to the muchawaited Constitution Amendment (GST) Bill after being ratified by more than 16 States across the nation. We welcome this development and hope that the GST is rolled out from April 1 next year, as decided. It is a pleasure to note that as required, the Government has already constituted the GST Council immediately after the Presidential assent, which will be a key body to decide on the functional modalities of GST, including tax rates, cess and surcharges, and the first meeting of this Council took place in New Delhi on 22nd-23rd September 2016, with the Government running ahead of the schedule in the matter regarding GST implementation. The states and the Centre are working overtime and talking to stakeholders to draft the central GST, state GST and integrated GST laws, which are likely to be passed in the winter session of parliament. |
Finance Minister Shares ICAI-FICCI Stage |
Taking forward our role as partner-in-nationbuilding, we, jointly with FICCI, recently organised a talk on Income Declaration Scheme 2016 and Gold Monetisation Scheme in Mumbai which was graced by Hon’ble Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley and Chaiperson CBDT Ms. Rani Singh Nair which elicited an overwhelming response from members and others. I along with the ICAI Vice-President CA. Nilesh Vikamsey represented the ICAI on the occasion. |
Indian Railways Finance Commissioner Addresses ICAI Council |
Our professional partnership and association with Indian Railways, for whom the ICAI-ARF is undertaking many projects, scaled a new high when the newly-appointed Finance Commissioner of Indian Railways Shri K. B. Nanda recently addressed our Council and dwelt on the role the ICAI and Indian accounting profession can play to assist Indian Railways. His address came in the backdrop of Indian Railways recently according its in-principle approval to assign the work of “Rolling Out of Accrual Accounting in all Zonal Railways and Production Units over Indian Railways” to ICAI ARF. |
ICAI Becomes Member of International Valuation Standards Council |
I am pleased to inform you that ICAI’s continuous endeavour to increase its association with international professional bodies and platforms recently met with a new success when the ICAI became an Institutional member of International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC). The Membership Committee of IVSC has recently approved the ICAI membership. I am sure this development will add a new dimension to the ICAI and Indian accounting profession. |
ICAI Geared up for IFRS Foundation - Stakeholder Event |
ICAI is all geared up to host yet another important global event - the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRSF) Stakeholder’s Event on 13th October, 2016 in New Delhi. The event is being hosted jointly with IFRSF and will involve a panel discussion on the future of financial reporting. IFRS Foundation leadership will also visit ICAI for detailed discussions on 14th October, 2016. We will also host a webcast on “Future of Financial Reporting” (with specific reference to IFRS – 9, 15 and 16 Standards) on 14th October as part of the event. |
Edinburgh, IFAC Board and Chartered Accountants Worldwide Meeting |
To globally put across the perspective of Indian accountancy profession, I along with ICAI past- President (and IFAC Board member) CA. K. Raghu, among others, recently attended Edinburgh Group meeting on 7th September 2016, IFAC Board meeting on 8th-9th September 2016 and CEO and Board meetings of Chartered Accountants Worldwide meetings on 11th-12th September 2016 in Sydney. I also utilised the occasion to invite the who’s who of Accountancy profession to ICAI’s Hyderabad International Conference scheduled to be held on 22nd-23rd October 2016. I also got an opportunity to meet my professional colleagues and members from our Australia (Sydney) Chapter during the visit. |
ICAI on Working Groups for Implementation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 |
As you may be aware, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had constituted the Oversight Committee and Working Groups for the implementation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016. Four Working Groups had been constituted for the purpose of formulating Rules and Regulations. I am happy to share with you that two of my Central Council colleagues, CA. Dhinal A. Shah and CA. Sripriya Kumar, are representing the ICAI on the Working Groups 2 and 3, which were constituted to submit recommendations on the Insolvency Professionals and Insolvency Professional Agencies and the Rules and Regulations and other matters related to Insolvency and Liquidation process under the Code respectively. ICAI views on the matter would be holistically represented in due process. |
Resolving Discrepancies—Income-tax E-Filing |
As you know, some of the e-filing accounts of our members were disabled by the Income-tax Department on account of the mismatch in Name, PAN No., and Date of Birth, in the records of Income-tax Department and ICAI. The matter was actively taken up with the Income-tax authorities and the e-filing accounts which were blocked on account of the mismatch in Name were restored for the time being. The discrepancies pertaining to PAN No. and Date of Birth are being sorted out by seeking correct details and supporting documents from the members. Members may check these issues and ensure that the data with ICAI match with that of Income-tax Department. |
All Set for ICAI’s Mega International Conference in Hyderabad |
I am glad to inform you that the stage is all set for our mega two-day International Conference- Jñāna Yajña: The Quest for Excellence - on 22nd-23rd October 2016 in Hyderabad. Some of the themes that will be discussed at this platform are-governance and sustainability through accounting standards, new economic order, financial reforms and way forward, public-sector financial management, internal financial controls for enterprise governance, outcome-based developmental model, SMEs empowerment and development, and business analytics and strategy. I invite you all to take part in this mega annual event of global outlook and broaden your knowledge horizons. Let’s book our dates for the historic city of Hyderabad in advance. |
Industry Warming Up to our Placement Drive |
I am happy to note that industry is increasingly putting its trust in our young members while warmly taking them in their folds to be a part of the India story and this was on ample display during our ongoing (i.e. August- September 2016) Campus Placement programmes across 21 cities in India. In a tremendous response, nearly 100 organisations are participating to recruit around 2,000 newly qualified Chartered Accountants. I extend my best wishes to all participating newly-qualified CA candidates and sincerely hope they will eventually attain their professional goals and realise their dreams. |
Revised Scheme of Education and Training |
As you may be aware, CA profession is undergoing a rapid transformation with emerging borderless economies, IT developments & resulting complexities and increasing emphasis on CSR. Against this backdrop, our next generation accountants need to be well prepared as complete business solution providers. As such, at ICAI, we are in the final stages of implementing a new scheme of education and training with an objective to prepare more competent, better equipped and more responsible generation of chartered accountants. In line with the relevant International Education Standards of IFAC, this new course curriculum will benchmark the Indian CA education with the best in the world. Discussions and deliberations are in the final stages to crystallise the syllabus of all the subjects at all the levels of CA course. The draft syllabi as well as public comments on Revised Scheme were recently considered by our Board of Studies. I hope that the new course will be rolled out soon. |
Teachers’ Day Celebrated on ‘My Principal - My Teacher’ Theme |
Articleship/practical training is in the core of CA Curriculum and will always be its backbone. Principals of an articled trainees are the most important guru/ teacher for them, i.e. CA students. They help them in honing their inter-personal skills, guide their career growth and groom them ultimately in emerging as all-round evolved professionals. Articled training is probably the only phase where students have the same guru/ teacher for three successive years and this makes the principal– article relationship a bond for life. Guru-shishya (i.e. teacher-student) dynamics is an integral part of all learning and training processes. To strengthen this relationship and bond, and spotlight the due respect and recognition to principals, we at ICAI celebrated the Teachers Day on 5th September on the theme My Principal-My Teacher across the country at our Regional Councils, Branches and also at CA firms. This provided an opportunity to our students and members to connect with their principals as all of them joined the celebrations in large numbers. In addition, our Board of Studies also organised a special live webcast to mark the occasion. These celebrations are the start of a new tradition in ICAI, which, I hope, will continue to grow in coming years too as a mark of respect to our Principals as our Guru. |
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Recently, at the inauguration of NITI Ayog's programme-Transforming India lecture series, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said: The younger generation in our own country is thinking and aspiring so differently that government can no longer afford to remain rooted in the past…There was a time when elders in a family knew more than those who were younger. Today, with the spread of new technology, the situation is often reversed. This increases the challenge for government in communicating and in meeting rising expectations. Therefore, if our country is to perform up to the expectations of our times, it will require a rapid transformation, which is impossible without the same transformation in governance mindset and ideas. He was of the opinion that since the law requires change and unnecessary and redundant processes need to be eliminated, we will require appropriate (administrative) procedures and contemporary technology in order to march through the 21st century. ICAI Vice-President CA. Nilesh Shivji Vikamsey represented the Institute at the programme of NITI Ayog. |
Best wishes |
CA. M. Devaraja Reddy President, ICAI 23rd September 2016 |
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