Talent wins games, but teamwork wins Championships.

As we approach the conclusion of the Council year 2022-23, this is my last communication in the journal as the President of the Institute. I am really mesmerized by the strength of the profession, its pursuit of continuous growth, working steadfastly to inspire trust and confidence amongst stakeholders. When I took over as the 70th President of my beloved alma mater, the second largest global accounting body, I was determined to inspire the young talent, meet the aspirations of the profession and build trust, respect & dignity. As I look back, I am filled with pride that the Institute has not only grown leaps and bounds but has also laid the path for a much brighter tomorrow. There has been a remarkable rise in status, prestige and image of ICAI in the public eye consequent to the successful hosting of the World Congress of Accountants.

This journey of accomplishments and progress of taking profession to newer heights, were possible with the active and collective efforts of the Team ICAI i.e. Central Council, Regional Councils, Branches, Foreign Chapters, Representative offices and ICAI employees. I must compliment Vice President, ICAI, CA. Aniket S. Talati, for his support, as we worked towards achieving the mission of Empowering the Profession: Building Excellence and Strengthening Stakeholder’s Confidence.

As we celebrate 75 years of Indian independence, The Institute has been constantly undertaking various initiatives to empower profession to ensure that the profession emerges as an enabler of economic growth.

With Climate change emerging as global challenge, the Institute has laid stress on sustainable economic development.Aligning with this objective, ICAI this year has developed “Sustainability Reporting Maturity Model (SRMM) Version 2.0” based on BRSR scoring mechanism as mandated by SEBI and rolled out first ever audit standard on sustainability information i.e. Standard on Sustainability Assurance Engagements (SSAE) 3000 “Assurance Engagements on Sustainability Information”. The Institute of Social Auditors of India (ISAI) was formed for regulation and development of Social Auditors in an independent and transparent manner. Also, Standards for Social Audit on 16 thematic issues were developed and issued which will be applicable on social enterprises as envisaged in the Social Audit framework.

ICAI hosted the first ever carbon neutral 21st edition of World Congress of Accountants (WCOA) popularly known as the ‘Olympics of Accountants’ from 18 - 21 November, 2022 at Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai in hybrid mode. The Congress was organized for the first time in India in more than 118 years of its history. About 10000 Professionals attended the event from more than 120 countries. The theme ‘Building Trust Enabling Sustainability’ attracted widespread appreciation.

The Institute continued to forge global collaborations to strengthen the development of accounting ecosystem globally, ICAI renewed its MoU with College of Banking and Financial Studies, Oman and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal. It also signed fresh MoU with Polish Chamber of Statutory Auditors (PIBR); Chamber of Auditors of the Republic of Azerbaijan (CAAR) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria during the year. Expanding the profession’s global outreach, ICAI inaugurated 6 Representative Offices in the United States of America at Arizona, Austin, Los Angeles, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio ensuring that ICAI has footprints in 77 cities and 47 countries of the world with 44 Chapters and 33 Representative Offices.

To empower economic development and working towards India@2047, the Institute took various measures to nurture entrepreneurship, MSMEs and Startups. ICAI was inducted into India Book of Records for its initiatives MSME SETU and MSME Yatra which promoted Competitiveness and Capacity building of MSMEs. MoUs were signed to build an enabling ecosystem promoting entrepreneurship, Startups and MSMEs with the Government of Tamil Nadu, IIM Lucknow Enterprise Incubation Centre and Gujarat Student Startup & Innovation Hub (i-Hub). MoUs were also signed for capacity building with NIRD & Panchayati Raj, SCOPE, and Commissioner of Treasuries and Accounts, Government of Tamil Nadu.

The Institute has been consistently working towards augmenting the quality of audit and has taken numerous steps to reinforce trust on financial reporting. During the year many new standards on Internal Audit were issued. Audit Quality Maturity Model Rev V.1.0 that was prepared to enhance audit quality is now being made mandatory from 1st April, 2023 for firms auditing certain types of entities to augment the audit quality and assurance services. The Council has approved the Peer Review Guidelines thereby replacing the Statement on Peer Review.

ICAI has been working in line with the vision of the Government to create awareness regarding Vittiya Saksharta in the country and initiated Financial and Tax Literacy Drive in the form of Vitiya Gyan - ICAI Ka Abhiyaan. Thousands of members of ICAI took pledge to make India ‘Sone Ki Chidiya.’ The Institute through its network of Branches and Regional Councils spread across India took part in the ‘Jan Jagrukata Abhiyaan’ during the “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”. ICAI acted as a knowledge partner to Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) for its 75 tele-series on investor awareness.

The Institute is known for its role as educator and facilitator for knowledge enrichment amongst members, students and stakeholders. This year the Council has approved the New Scheme for Education and Training. The New scheme is aligned to National Education Policy 2020, expectations of the industry, global best practices and technological advancements. The syllabi for the scheme has been finalized and the scheme is pending for final approval from the Ministry. During the year ICAI awarded scholarship to more than 5900 students under various categories. Further promoting commerce education, ICAI entered into MoUs with Departments of Education from Jammu, Kashmir and Mizoram besides organizing Mega Career Counselling Programmes. For the first time the results of the November 2022, Intermediate and Final Examinations were declared on the same day.

The Institute took numerous initiatives like extending the decision of waiving 75% registration course fee for all levels of the CA course for the students of Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, North-Eastern India and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

During the year, the Institute has attained new milestones as the profession has strived to reach new horizons and meet expectations of all stakeholders. As they say development is never ending and the profession shall continue its journey of progress. Significant achievements of the Institute in the Council year 2022-23 have been listed separately in this Journal.

Meanwhile, let’s have a look at some of the professional and student related developments that took place in the last one month:

The Institute through its Board of Studies (Academic) organised a National Education Summit on Commerce & Accountancy (NES- CA) on 6th & 7th January 2023 at New Delhi in partnership with the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). NES-CA’s aim was to standardize Commerce & Accounting education at Higher Secondary and Undergraduate levels of schools/colleges/universities across India. The event was inaugurated by Dr. Subhas Sarkar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Education and Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Minister of State for Finance delivered a keynote address. The Summit was attended by Vice Chancellors, Directors, Deans, Principals, HODs, Chairmen & Professors from top Commerce universities & colleges and Secretaries of State Education Boards from over 25 States. With the organization of this Summit, the Institute stamped its presence as the leading Educator catering to about 8 lakh students.

I am pleased to inform that the ICAI has set the record for ‘Maximum Number of Students Participation in Super Mega Career Counselling Programme’. The First Drive of Programme was organized on October 31, 2022 and the Second Drive was held on November 26, 2022. A total of 1,60,648 students of classes IX till Graduation participated in the programme along with the Principals, Teachers and Career Counsellors. The programmes were conducted by 5 Regional Councils and 124 Branches. The Institute is the first organisation in Asia to set a record for counselling maximum number of students in one go. ICAI was inducted in Asia Book of Records for this feat and the jury of Asia Book of Records felicitated the Institute on 18th January, 2023.

• 16th ICAI Awards
  
  ICAI organized 16th ICAI Awards for members in Industry and Business on 10th January, 2023 at Kolkata. The Chief Guest Shri C.V. Ananda Bose, Hon’ble Governor, West Bengal awarded the Chartered Accountants who have excelled in their organisations and have brought glory to the profession. The Hon’ble Governor stated that “It is the Transparency and Accountability which makes the CA profession a great profession.”
  
  
• ICAI Awards for Excellence in Financial Reporting 2021-22 & Sustainability Reporting
  
  The Institute also organized awards ceremony to recognize organizations following high quality financial reporting and best Sustainability Reporting practices through the annual awards competition titled ‘ICAI Awards for Excellence in Financial Reporting’ and ‘ICAI Sustainability and International Sustainability Awards’ in a glittering ceremony held in Varanasi on 20th January, 2023. The Guests of Honour Dr. Daya Shankar Mishra, Hon’ble Minister of State in the Ministry of Ayush (Independent Charge) of Uttar Pradesh and Shri Daya Shankar Singh, Hon’ble Minister of Transport, UP presented the awards to the winners.

The ICAI as partner in Nation’s development joined hands with Madhya Pradesh Government and participated in the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas and Global Investors Summit in Indore from 8-12 January, 2023. The ICAI Pavilion provided instant expert advice to the NRIs and delegates. The ICAI showcased robots and AI/VR enabled applications which were a major attraction.

The Institute curated a session on “Access Madhya Pradesh - Complete Business Solution” in the Global Investors Summit where renowned experts shared their knowledge about ease of doing business, compliances, infrastructure, accountancy & taxation to promote investment and growth of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Hon’ble Finance Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Jagdish Devda graced the session.

The meeting of SAFA Board was held in Delhi on 7th January, 2023 wherein Past President ICAI CA. Nihar N. Jambusaria was appointed as President of SAFA for the year 2023. SAFA comprises of 11 accountancy bodies in South- Asian Region and strives to contribute to the development of the accountancy profession in the region.

The ICAI with its requisite expertise and knowledge has been working with the State Governments and its various constituents to support their capacity building initiatives. In this direction, the Institute conducted programmes in 10 states relating to GST. During the year more than 2400 officers have been trained in such programmes by ICAI.

ICAI through its GST & Indirect Taxes Committee, hosted a National GST Symposium, 2022 for CGST, SGST and UTGST Officers on 15-16 December, 2022 in Chennai. Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Hon’ble Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management, Government of Tamil Nadu, inaugurated the programme.

Convocation ceremonies were held in 12 different locations celebrating our students’ newly acquired highly coveted status as Chartered Accountant on 24th and 25th January, 2023. In all more than 11000 newly qualified Chartered Accountants were conferred certificates of membership. Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal was among the many dignitaries present to congratulate the newly qualified students and their parents. I convey my best wishes to all the young members for their success in their future endeavours.

My journey with the Institute has been long and fulfilling. After having served as Chairman of the Guwahati branch and Eastern India Regional Council headquartered in Kolkata, I joined the Central Council in 2016 and eventually reached the highest office in the current Council year 2022-23 with the support and blessings of everyone. Zeal, Passion and Love for the profession have always driven me. Nation First are the two very important words in my vocabulary.

With the approaching end of the Council Year and my presidentship, I take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to Team ICAI for their unflinching trust, support and guidance in taking the profession to newer heights.

The Fearless and Innovative Flight of Garuda, the Eagle amazes me. My eyes glitter and my heart thumps with joy when I visualize the great bird flying all over the globe indicating that our time to be a global leader has arrived.

Our motto, has inspired generations of Chartered Accountants and makes me stand erect in pride when the Motto song is played.

The National Anthem and National Flag is a strong reminder that we are a Partner in Nation Building and that earning the Trust of the Nation is of paramount importance.

As I bid adieu as the President of ICAI, I wish my professional colleagues and my beloved Institute the very best in pursuit of Excellence, Independence and Integrity. I salute my Institute - I adore my profession and most importantly I am proud to be an Indian.