CAduniya.com : CA India Blog

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) president Uttam Prakash Agarwal in an interview with Fe’s Neha Pal shares the initiatives taken by the institute on the global level. Excerpts: What action has the ICAI taken against the two Satyam auditors—S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri?

The disciplinary committee of ICAI has prima-facie found the two auditors responsible for professional misconduct and have issued notices to both of them to appear before the committee. But the matter has been adjourned since the two auditors are in jail.

What is the status regarding the convergence of the Indian accounting standards with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)?

The ICAI council has reaffirmed its commitment to the government to implement converged standards from April 1, 2011. The council reviewed the level of preparedness of the profession towards implementation and was satisfied with the progress made.

What is ICAI doing in terms of the Indian auditing standards?

The ICAI is moving ahead on the road of convergence of Indian standards of auditing (SA) with International Standards of Auditing (ISA). These new standards will cater to the expectations of society, regulators and government in terms of continuously improving the quality of audit process of providing assurance to the financial statements. The ICAI has approved one more standard on internal audit (SIA) 17, Consideration of Laws and Regulations in an internal audit. This standard distinguishes the internal auditor’s responsibilities in relation to compliance with two different categories of laws and regulations, one that has direct affect on financial statements and other that has significant impact on the functioning of the entity.

Is there any new change that has been introduced in the chartered accountancy course?

The council of the institute has allowed training for the chartered accountancy course even outside India with the institute’s members in practice. This would mean that such a member in practice would be entitled to train chartered accountancy students, even if they are partner in the local firm outside India.

The institute has been given the charge to develop the financial reporting XBRL taxonomy for various sectors. How far has ICAI succeeded in this?

The draft of the taxonomy to prepare financial statements of banks has recently been considered by the expert group under the convenorship of the member from RBI on the steering committee. The same has been finalised for public consultation and placed on our website for…

source: financialexpress.com

an. 8 (Bloomberg) — Indian stocks may decline in 2010 after their best year since 1991 on prospects for higher interest rates, reduced stimulus measures and an outflow of investment from emerging markets, Ambit Capital Pvt. Said.

The benchmark Sensitive index may trade in a range of 15,000 to 19,000 this year, said Andrew Holland, chief executive officer of equities at Ambit Capital. That’s a decline of as much as 15 percent from yesterday’s close of 17,615.72. The Sensex rose 81 percent in 2009, its best year since 1991.

“It’s not going to be a great year for stock market performance and I would have a defensive portfolio in the first half as global headwinds are a cause for concern,” Holland, the former managing director for equity proprietary trading at Merrill Lynch in India, said in an interview in Mumbai yesterday. “Rising bond yields and stimulus measures being pulled out from the system is worrying.”

The rise in India’s food prices to an 11-year high is adding pressure on the central bank to lift borrowing costs after reductions between October 2008 and April 2009 helped shield Asia’s third-largest economy from the global recession. Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said this week the extension of stimulus measures isn’t “good” for the economy and that the central bank will decide on interest rates on Jan. 29.

Fund raising by Indian companies and the government’s divestment program may total $25 billion this year and divert funds from existing stocks, Holland said. Indian companies raised $15 billion from share sales in the country last year.

 Source: http://www.businessweek.com