The Professional Development Committee organized an interactive Dinner Meeting with the members of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on March 7, 2009 at New Delhi. On this occasion Ms. Bharati Prasad, Dy. C&AG and Ms. Praveen Tripathi, Dy. C&AG (Commercial) were felicitated by the President and all Council members of the Institute. Shri K.P. Sasidharan, Principal Director (Commercial) & nominee of the Government on Council of the Institute and Shri P.K. Mishra from C&AG were also present. CA. Anuj Goyal, Chairman, Professional Development Committee welcoming the C&AG officials described it as a memorable occasion as both supreme audit institutions have come together . Particularly, in the wake of recent corporate turmoil, the meeting acquired great significance. Honble President CA. Uttam Prakash Agarwal expressed the great pleasure and stated that both regulators jointly share the same view as far as upholding the auditors independence and ethical values are concerned. He also noted that both regulators share the same perspective in response to rotation of auditors, joint auditor etc.

Ms. Praveen Tripathi, Dy. C&AG (Commercial) echoed the same feeling and stated that auditors independence in the todays context assures special significance and stated that C&AG shall take all measures to ensure that auditors enjoy the adequate degree of independence so that they can discharge their responsibilities in better manner to the society. She stated that C&AG officials alongwith ICAI has already taken steps to organize the programmes for creating better understanding. Ms. Bharati Prasad, Dy. C&AG on this occasion appreciated the role of Chartered Accountants and stated that the issues relating to supplement audit have almost settled down and the value addition done by C&AG office is quite established. She stated that there is always a great learning experience from every failure. In fact, one needs to set down the time framework in which to achieve the desired result.

On this occasion, several members of the Council of the Institute shared their views on the subject. CA. Akshay Gupta, Council Member from Kanpur appreciated the role of C&AG and recalled the fruitful and interactive joint session held in late nineties. CA. Kashi Khandelwal, Council Member from Kolkatta also shared his views on the role of C&AG Auditors and the role of CAs in the todays economy. CA. Shanti Lal Daga, Council Member from Hyderabad stated that observing good corporate governance practices and understanding of accounting and auditing standards are particularly need to inculcate amongst the official handling financial facilities. CA. Vinod Jain, Council Member from Delhi highlighted the need for better supervision in respect of financial resources spent by the Government and its various departments on various schemes. He also stated that the auditors independence is the primary issue which need to be addressed by all regulators. CA. G. Ramaswamy, Council member from Coimbatore narrated the manner in which the audit of tax receipts is done by the department and highlighted the need for reforms in this area. CA. Pankaj Jain, Council Member from Mumbai endorsed the views of CA. G. Ramaswamy and also suggested that C&AG and ICAI together can improve the public sector accounting. In this context, he also referred to the role of Government Accounting Standard Board (GASAB) also. CA. V.C. James, Vice Chairman, Professional Development Committee stated that the Ernakulam branch is already organizing the programme for State PSUs as well as C&AG officials in the new emerging areas. CA. Subodh Kumar Agrawal, Council member from Kolkatta explained the significance of the Committee on Public Finance established by the Institute recently to promote better functioning of the Indian economy. Vice President CA. Amarjit Chopra in his concluding observations stressed on the need for organizing joint workshops comprising C&AG officials, statutory auditors of PSUs and ICAI representatives. He assured C&AG of all assistance in organizing the training programmes by the ICAI.