Honorable President of the ICAI - The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, CA. Ved Jain, in his communication to members of the institute dated November 1, 2008, has outlined the contribution and importance of contribution of CA's at the time of economic crisis.
The initiative taken by the Institute to continuously increase and update the knowledge of its members, to globalize their reach, to uphold their integrity and reliability and to make them one of the best and most respected professional, is commendable.
With the hope of always keeping our virtues at upmost level, the text of his message is being reproduced below.
Warm Regards
CA Manish Tibrewal
-----------------------------Original Message---------------------------------
From: "President (ICAI)" <president@icai.in>
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 17:40:54
Subject: President's Message
Dear Esteemed Colleagues,
As I pen down this communication, the financial world and the global economy are in the throes of the worst crisis of our times. The financial bubble global in scale has now burst, resulting in the collapse of some of the largest financial institutions, drying up of liquidity, wiping out investor confidence and mind-boggling amounts of wealth, and leaving the world economy teetering on the brink of a serious recession. Despite baffling bail-out packages and other desperate measures by some of the richest nations, the contagious crisis continues to shake the world, India included raising fears that the worst is yet to come. Only a few could have imagined such a culmination of the last years US sub-prime crisis. But why did it happen in the first place, when everything looked so rosy, so hunky dory till recently? Our professional wisdom calls for unraveling this question so that we can become wary of the causes of the crisis for future.
The global financial meltdown has indeed had a knock-on effect on India too as witnessed in the bleeding stock markets, but there is no reason to panic, as there is no financial crisis per se in India. With its strong internal drivers for growth, robust financial system, excellent regulatory mechanism, and pro-active and pre-emptive monitoring of the situation, India will certainly weather this global storm. We can take pride in saying that India’s regulations, regulators and compliance systems are better than those in more advanced countries.
However, there is need for the Indian accounting fraternity to be extra-vigilant while performing their duties and be forthcoming with their pre-emptive advices and actions in the best interests of their clients, employers and the national economy. As the backbone of the Indian financial system, the nation today expects from us much more than ever before. I am sure that given our excellent track record as an inbuilt check and balance and monitor & ensuring the compliance in the financial system, we professionals will be able to see India through these turbulent times. Every crisis carries an opportunity with it, and we should accept this opportunity to yet again prove and promote our worth.
Moving on to issues relating to the profession and the Institute, I wish to share the following with you.
New Certificate Courses for Members
In tune with the emerging requirements of the globalised economy and the need for specialized professionals and also as a futuristic move, I am glad to inform you that we have started two new certificate courses on Forex & Treasury Management, and Derivatives. I am sure these courses will help our members improve their professional visibility and core competence. The course on Forex & Treasury Management will cover the areas of foreign exchange market, money market, bond market operations and related financial products. It will also analyze international finance environment within which banks and other intermediaries and companies operate. The course aims to examine alternative strategies and techniques that can be employed to manage the risks associated with international business transactions and other treasury operations.
The emphasis is on developing such skill sets which would be required for making sound financial decisions in an international context. The course on Derivatives will cover financial derivatives such as forward contracts, futures contracts, options, swaps and other new derivatives. The emphasis of the course will be on successful execution of financial strategies using derivatives as product.
The details of both these courses and the other certificate courses introduced recently i.e., Certificate Course on IFRS, Certificate Course on Valuation and Certificate Course on Arbitration are available on our website with facility of online registration.
Portal for Members in Practice and Members in Industry
Let me also inform you that soon a portal is being launched wherein Members in Practice could post their profiles and areas of expertise so that the same could be utilized by service users and other professionals. Similarly, for Members in Industry, another portal is being launched for putting their profiles for possible use by corporate and prospective employers.
E-Learning Initiative
I am happy to inform you that a mission has been embarked upon to make e-learning one of the most powerful resources of ICAI. As part of this initiative, the ICAIs first e-learning course on Service Tax has now been made available for members on the new e-learning platform <http://elearn.icai.org> http://elearn.icai.org. I am sure members will find this course advantageous and helpful in obtaining the CPE credits. Members can now register for the e-learning course and after successful completion of it, the ICAIs CPE Directorate would automatically update the CPE credits on the CPE portal.
Tie-Ups with Universities for BBA and MBA
I am glad to inform you that Bharatiyar University, Coimbatore has agreed to allow CA students/ members to pursue the BBA and MBA courses. A student pursuing PCC/PE-II course can join the BBA course and be eligible for exemption in 10 out of a total of 15 papers and on passing remaining 5 papers, will be entitled to the BBA degree. Similarly, a member or a student having passed the final examination of CA course shall be eligible for exemption in 10 papers out of 15 papers of the MBA examination and will be awarded the MBA degree on passing the remaining 5 papers. Both the BBA and MBA courses will be available across the country. Further details will be hosted on the website immediately after a formal signing of MoU with the Bharatiyar University, which is likely to be in mid-November, 2008.
Similar discussions are on with various other universities and I am quite hopeful that after formalizing the MoU with one university, it will be much easier to have similar arrangement with other universities.
Imparting Quality Article Training - Need of the Hour
We must realize that quality training is the key to a strong accountancy profession, which in turn is the key to a strong financial infrastructure in the country. In these times of globalization, high expectations and fast-increasing number of articled assistants, the practical training of articles has to be taken much more seriously than ever before to preserve and promote our 60-year- long tradition of high standards. There has been more than a three-fold increase in the number of students enrolling for article-ship as compared to the average during the period 2001-2005, which has cast a great responsibility on the principals of the day. Its high time that members/ principals rose to the occasion and paid extra attention to groom the CA students into complete professionals. Members need to act like mentors, as friend, philosopher and guide to the CA students and make them feel at home during the period of training.
The practical training is required to be meticulously planned and implemented in such a manner that the trainees get exposed to the maximum number of professional activities, circumstances and business environments. Besides, students need to be encouraged to make presentations and participate in group discussions as a regular feature of their training. Weekly meetings of the students could be arranged where students be asked to share their experiences.
I have asked Board of Studies to work on a comprehensive mentorship guide. I will request all of you to share your experiences and forward your suggestions so that uniform, quality training could be ensured. We, at the Institute level, are constantly improving the Practical Training Programme, but its efficient execution depends largely on the principals. Lets take the task of article training as an obligation to the profession and seriously fulfill the same.
Growing Strength of CA Fraternity
You will be enthused to know that the strength of Chartered Accountant fraternity has grown significantly in recent times. The total number of our members has increased from 1,45,481 to 1,50,265 as on 30.9.2008.
What is even more remarkable is the over-whelming interest of students in the profession and their enthusiasm to join the CA fraternity. The number of students on an average per year joining CA course during the years 2001 to 2005 was between 35,000 to 40,000. However, in the year 2006, this number rose to 99,113 and in the year 2007 to 1,61,952.
I am sure that the increasing interest in the accountancy profession will grow still further in times to come, in line with the all-round expansion of economic activities and the consequent ever-increasing demand of highly qualified accounting professionals in the country. These trends are a matter of pride for all of us.
The fact that needs special mention is that there has been a substantial increase in the number of women members of our fraternity. As on date, women constitute about 15 per cent of the total membership. Out of the 60,929 members who have been added since April 2001, a substantial number of 14,625 (24%) are women. Not only that, the percentage of female students among the new registrants for CA course is above 32 percent.
Activities Abroad
It is really heartening to inform you that 21 overseas chapters of the Institute are acting as ICAI ambassadors and facilitators of globalization of the Indian accounting profession with distinction. The chapters are growing from strength to strength and are serving as nerve centers for our members. The multifarious activities of these chapters demonstrate the growing competence and confidence of the Indian professional community abroad.
On our part, we are ensuring that these chapters pursue much more because in this era of globalization and harmonization of accounting and auditing standards, the opportunities for our CAs are bound to grow. We are prompting the chapters to increasingly help, support, promote and foster a sense of com- munity, loyalty, fellowship, partnership and professionalism among the members of the Institute. We have taken initiatives to make sure that these chapters establish and maintain close relationship with CAs from India, and also liaise with the foreign professional bodies to enhance their awareness about ICAI and its members.
I recently had the privilege of visiting Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto chapters and attending the programmes organized by each of them during my visit to Australia and Canada as a follow-up of the mutual recognition exercise being carried on with accounting institutes of these countries. I was highly impressed by the role being played and the time being spent by the office bearers of these chapters. The chairpersons of these chapters and the entire executive teams deserve sincere compliments from the whole of the profession for the role being played by them in enhancing the awareness about the Institute and its members. The details of all these chapters with link to their respective websites are available on the ICAI website. In case you need any more information or assistance, please visit their websites and communicate with the office bearers of the chapters concerned.
A Street Named After ICAI
Friends, there has been ever-increasing recognition of the ICAI as a partner in nation building. I am glad to inform you that as part of this process, a street within the limits of Salem Municipal Corporation has been named after the name of the Institute. It is for the first time that this has happened. The street in which the Salem branch building is situated has been named as "Auditors Street" in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Institute. Similarly, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has agreed to hand over two roads viz. Jawaharlal Nehru Marg [from Delhi Gate traffic junction to Samata Sthal (Babu Jag Jeevan Ram Samadhi) and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg (From ITO to Minto Road T-point), to the Institute for its upkeep and maintenance. Discussions are on for taking over some of the Delhi Municipal Libraries for upkeep and maintenance and opening of computer centers at such libraries.
This is a welcome move, which will help promote the identity and status of the Institute in the society. May I request you to use your good offices and see that the profession and the ICAI get more and more recognition.
Measures to Serve Members
You will be happy to know that a Members Help Desk has been created and hosted on the website of the Institute to respond to day- to-day queries of our members. Our members can now write and post their queries anytime visiting the site <http://www.icai.org> www.icai.org, and a response will be sent to them through e-mail within three working days. I am sure that this will put an end to our members long-felt requirement for a platform where they could resolve their queries. I will really wait for your feedback in this regard, as this will help us in managing, updating and strengthening this system. This step is actually an addition to the initiative of Foreign Desk that is already in operation under the link 'ICAI Internationally' on the Institutes website.
Under this facility our members abroad can reach the Institute by writing to <mailto:foreigndesk@icai.org> foreigndesk@icai.org about various matters of professional concern.
Also, in order that ICAI members abroad are able to receive various important periodical communications from the Institute in time, they need to update their e-mail addresses with the institute. A facility has been created for members, inter alia, to update their e-mail profile, addresses and other important particulars through the link, 'Update ICAI Members Abroad Profile' on the Institutes website. I re- quest all our members abroad to use this facility to update their addresses so as to facilitate smooth communication.
International Conference
As informed in my earlier communication an International Conference on the theme "Accounting Profession Shining Bridge Between Global Economics" is being held from 20th 22nd November, 2008 at Jaipur City, famously known as the Pink City and a City known for its myriad and mystique heritage tourism.
This conference is likely to attract over 4000 delegates including 200 delegates from different countries. The conference will dwell upon issues on Governance, Accounting and Technical Standards, Audit Expectations, Change Management, International Trade, Emerging Capital Markets, Emerging Challenges and Opportunities to the profession. This conference coincides with the Board Meeting of Confederation of Asia and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) and South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA). This International Conference would be a congregation of `who is who' of accounting profession and corporate world and shall veritably be a unique opportunity to interact with the distinguished resources. I extend my personal invitation to each one of you to participate in this conference. It is rarely that such a galaxy of so important dignitaries is available in a particular event. The detailed programme is available on the Institute's website <http://www.icai.org> www.icai.org
CA. Ved Jain
New Delhi, November 1, 2008
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