The International Conference on "Accounting Profession- Shining bridge between Global Economies was organized by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI) from Nov 20-22nd at Jaipur and was inaugurated today by Honble Union Minister of Corporate Affairs, Shri Prem Chand Gupta. The Conference has been hosted by Jaipur branch of CIRC of The Institute. 
 
On this occasion the Honble Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Shri Prem Chand Gupta, congratulated the Institute on organizing an event that would facilitate closer working relations between India and other countries in the area of Accountancy, Research and establish Professional linkages. The minister said The subject chosen for the Conference is very apt in todays global economic environment. He also remarked The Institute (ICAI) provides excellent mentoring to the students as well as qualified Chartered Accountants by continuously conducting training and skill upgradation programmes. 
 
The 3 day International Conference will be a congregation of renowned experts in the area of accounting, auditing and management from International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA), South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) and other international bodies including leaders from Trade and Industry of India. There are approx 250 delegates from about 40 countries attending this conference. The Conference is being attended by 2400 delegates. 
 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) which will foster working relations between the two bodies. The MoU was signed by Mr. Martin Hagen, Deputy President, ICAEW and CA. Ved Jain, President, ICAI in the presence of Union Minister of Corporate Affairs, Hon'ble Shri Prem Chand Gupta. The MoU will provide for mutual Recognition and Examination arrangements for the members of the two largest Institutes of the world. The two largest Chartered Accountancy bodies joined hands in recognition arrangements for their members. 
 
The Honble Minister remarked A historic MoU was signed today which would recognize the membership of the other Institute. It is an excellent bilateral cooperation and I am very glad that the two largest Accounting bodies have initiated this exercise and concluded it. 
 
CA. Ved Jain, President ICAI in his address remarked This is a historic and a momentous occasion for the members of the ICAI and ICAEW. These are two largest accounting bodies with membership of over 1, 50,000 & 1, 30,000 respectively. The two Institutes have been following highest standards of professional education, training, technical & ethical standards. At this point of time, seeing the need of the hour, we have to make our profession recognized globally . The MoU entails coming together of two largest Accounting bodies working in tandem with each other to provide a synergy. This agreement would facilitate mobility of members across the borders and further strengthen the ties between India and United Kingdom (U.K.). Our mission is to make the next decade for Accounting professionals. We look forward to working closely with each other and to collaborate further in the field of research & accounting. 
 
CA. Vijay Garg, Central Council Member and Conference director emphasized the importance of this occasion in the present global scenario where world economies are transitioning through a trying phase. Considering the emerging scenario, the two Institutes have decided to come together to provide a wider arena to their members. 
 
Martin Hagen Deputy President, ICAEW commented that both India and UK have a strong trade interest. This MoU will establish closer working linkages as well as provide recognition for members of the two bodies in the respective countries.With this arrangement, the two nations would be playing leadership role in their respective region. 
 
Delivering the vote of thanks, CA. Uttam Prakash Agarwal, Vice President, ICAI, reiterated The Chartered Accountancy profession has carried out a realty check and it understands that it has to compete with global professionals. I have full conviction that this profession will find the path to professional achievements in the outside world.
 
The signing of MoU heralds a phase of new relationship between the members of the two countries. It will enable the respective member at either end, to take the membership of the other Institute. The membership of the local accounting body would provide larger professional avenues to members at respective end and would lead to a win-win situation for the members of both the accounting bodies. 
 
The arrangement provides that existing members of ICAI with two years of post qualification experience will be eligible for ICAEW membership on passing the ICAEW's one paper on Case Study. The ICAI members with less than two years of experience will be required to pass 3 papers- Case Study, Technical Integration Business change, Technical Integration Business Reporting.

On the other hand, members of ICAEW who are trained in public practice will become eligible for ICAI membership subject to passing ICAI's 4 no.s of examination papers for the special modules Taxation; Law, Ethics & Communication; Information Technology & Strategic Management; and Auditing & Assurance.

Looking at the trade relationship between India & UK, it is expected that quite a good number of members of ICAI will be opting for the membership of ICAEW and vice-versa.

The accounting fraternity has veritably converged to India for this Conference with Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) and South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) lining up their Board meetings and other events at Jaipur in India. SAFA is an Apex Body of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) and represents over 180000 accountants from the South Asian countries namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives. CAPA represents national accountancy organisation in the Asia-Pacific region. It has a membership of 34 accountancy organisations in 24 jurisdictions and is by far the largest regional accountancy organisation .

The impetus of these meetings would be to develop a work plan for working in tandem with various Govt. bodies, regulators and national accounting institutions for the development of accounting profession in the region leading to socio-economic development of the region for better affluence.

The International Conference will provide an opportunity to analyze the current economic crisis which has engulfed the world especially as the financial markets are passing through tumultuous phase. This conference would seek to understand the essence of such a scenario and draw Case Learning Model for strengthening further consolidation of accountancy system in Global Context.

This conference will also help ICAI in its efforts to globally project the strength of its accountancy profession and to showcase that an Indian Chartered Accountant by virtue of extensive education, wide syllabus, rigorous training backed with latest Information Technology is amongst the best. He is a professional equipped to deliver the best of accounting and auditing services. This conference brings an opportunity for India to compare and analyze its education with rest of the world and thus rightly make a claim that an Indian CA is second to none.