All is not well in the world of auditing after the mega scandal at Satyam and everyone is wondering what has gone wrong with the auditors in the absence of a strong in-built system to avoid such financial frauds in companies in India.
Echoing the above view, Vikas Nahar, a young Chartered Accountant, now working for a multinational bank, wanted the entire auditing system made transparent and auditors more accountable to society with a view to safeguarding the interests of the investors and shareholders.
The fact is that the PricewaterhouseCoopers auditors intentionally failed to apply certain audit standards to Satyam, enabling the perpetration of Indias largest accounting fraud by the firms founder B Ramalinga Raju and others, he said.
This 25-year-old Chartered Accountant said, We have to protect investors from the sort of alleged accounting fraud that had surfaced at Enron Corporation some time ago and in our own Satyam recently. Companies must make sure that the internal audit function is an active and proactive participant in the process of setting up corporate governance safeguards as per the available legislation and the companys internal auditors working on the due diligence process.
Vikash, hailing from a Marawari family, has vaulting ambitions - that is to become an industrial baron like the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis and make a mark in the world of business in his own way, using his knowledge and skill as a Chartered Accountant.
When asked why he chose CA as his profession, he said, My mother Madhu Bala Nahar, also a Chartered Accountant, has been providing all types of support and encouragement and I owe a lot to her on that count.
Making a strong bid for reverse accounting for strengthening statutory auditing procedures, Vikas wanted auditing to have an in-built system, all for giving early alerts in the event of any financial irregularity in a company.
As a student of the ICAI, Vikas and his sister Naina Nahar, also a CA student, made a trip to Pakistan in 2005 as Indias ambassadors and studied the financial and political conditions prevalent there.
He also learnt about the corporate structure in Pakistan during his meeting with the people at the Lahore Stock Exchange and the members of the Institute of Chartered of Accountants of Pakistan.
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