ICAI gets new president
UTTAM Prakash Aggarwal, former vice-president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), has been appointed the new president for the institute. “Sustaining ICAI’S brand image and creating awareness about the institute among a larger section of society is my primary mandate. During my period, the institute shall address social issues of national and global relevance such as agricultural productivity, elderly care and global warming. We will also be extending help in terms of carbon credit trading mechanisms,” says Aggarwal.
“Strengthening the monitoring system for best audit practise adoption and adherence to the corporate sector is another key focus for me,” he says. Further, to enable chartered accountants to make meaningful contributions to the corporate sector, he wants to develop vertical sector specialisation among its members so that they can extend specialised expertise in solving the problems of these sectors. BPO, real estate and retail are some such sectors,” he elaborates.
Aggarwal states that as another initiative to enhance the visibility of the institute and the profession among the masses he will train members to play a key role as juries in award selection processes like the Padma Shri awards, sports awards and film awards.
Talking about the recent concerns of regulators, Aggarwal adds, “I will try to ensure meaningful interaction between our members and the regulators so that the concerns are appropriately dealt with. Moreover, I will be introducing a joint audit system and rotation of auditors to ensure independence of auditors.”
There has been some disgruntlement among students regarding ICAI’s decision to not allow them to join any other university course while they are pursuing the chartered accountant (CA) course at the institute.
“This has been done in the interest of students. A CA course requires dedication and factoring in of long study hours regularly. Hence, if students are permitted to pursue other courses simultaneously, they will not be able to do justice to any of the courses,” says Aggarwal.
Aggarwal admits that frequent changes in the curriculum in the past have made it difficult for students to cope. “I propose to come out with a road map taking into account the views of various stakeholders, movements in the global and Indian economy and concerns of industries and regulators. This roadmap will help in determining a five-year perspective plan for the CA course and will aid in developing a stable curriculum,” he adds.
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