The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) today celebrated its 63rd foundation day. It was on this day in 1949  the Chartered Accountants Act was passed by the Parliament.  At a function organised in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi Shri  Rameshwar Thakur, Past President,ICAI and the Governor of Madhya Pradesh was the Chief Guest of the function. Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, CA. K.Rahman Khan and Minister of State, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Shri R.P.N Singh were the Guests of Honor. 

 Addressing on the  occasion  Starting with a handful of 1700 members, today, the strength of Chartered Accountant fraternity has grown to almost 1,73,517 members. On the education front, the ICAI began with mere 259 students and today almost 8.47 lacs students are a part of ICAI.

At the outset In his welcome address Shri T.Karthikeyan, Secretary, ICAI  said 1st July has a great significance for the Chartered Accountancy Profession in India, as on this day, in the year 1949 the Chartered Accountants Act was passed by the Parliament. Every year the Institute celebrates this day as CA Day. He said   starting with a handful of 1700 members, today, the strength of Chartered Accountant fraternity has grown to almost 1,73,517 members. On the education front, the ICAI began with mere 259 students and today almost 8.47 lacs students are a part of ICAI.

While delivering the Special address at Vigyan Bhawan, Shri D.K.Mittal, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs complimented the CA fraternity for having achieved unique distinction. He further added The profession in India has reached a distinction of becoming the 2nd largest accounting body and more importantly earning the trust and confidence of the society at large because of the basic core competence that they possess. He shared that ICAI is helping India to win the battle against corruption through ethical governance.

Minister of State for Corporate affairs , Shri R.P.N Singh said Accountancy profession is at its threshold. The role of Chartered Accountants has undergone sea-change and they have become total Business Solution Providers. ICAI during its sagacious journey of over 62 years has intensified its focus on emerging social and economic trends in order to raise the profession of accountancy to new heights of excellence.

He further added Chartered Accountants will rise to the occasion and bring further glory to this profession which in context of Indias emergence as a economic power has all the more role to play.

The Guest of Honor, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha Shri  K.Rahman Khan,  remarked Before the Constitution of India was born the need for accountancy was felt. The contribution of the Institute to the overall development of the country makes me feel proud of my being its Alumni. Our Institute has been a great strategist and innovator and has kept its quality standards very high because of process of continuous reforms in education and training and thus bringing in the Chartered Accountants a fine element of professional competence. He reiterated the need for transparency specially where the government money was being routed to reach the grass root level. He emphasized on the social responsibility aspect besides the ethical concept.

Speaking on the occasion Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Shri  Rameshwar Thakur remarked It is a moment of truth for the profession to be a fundamental edifice to be overall process of national development. The profession has developed itself as an enabling instrumentality-for businesses, governments, regulators and the stakeholders

Honble Governor further added The Chartered Accountancy profession in India is one profession which has a potential lead role to play; be it any sector of economy. I have full faith that the members of the profession have the requisite knowledge and skills to exploit the challenges and convert them into opportunities.

Delivering the Vote of thanks, Shri Jaydeep N.Shah, Vice President, ICAI high lighted the  following initiatives of the ICAI were highlighted during the function:

Report on Uniform Accounting & Auditing Framework for Political Parties: The Institute has prepared a format for the disclosure of the entire income and expenditure of political parties. The report on the Uniform Accounting & Auditing Framework for Political Parties has been submitted to the Election Commission. The implementation of the recommendations, by appropriately amending the relevant laws and would go a long way in bringing about accountability of political parties.

Group formed to address the issue of Black Money: In the wake of the ongoing demand from various groups and political parties to bring the black money stashed in the overseas market, ICAI has constituted a Group to provide necessary inputs/suggestions on effectively addressing the issue of menace of black money and related issues in view of public interest attached. The inputs/suggestions given by the Group will be submitted to the Government.

Chain of Workshops on XBRL: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs had mandated certain class of companies to file their financial statements in XBRL format for the year ended 31st March, 2011. In order to educate members on XBRL and providing hands-on training on the process, XBRL India has planned a chain of workshops to be organized at various locations across the country. During the first phase, workshops will be organized to provide training on XBRL filings in selective big cities using the resources of the Information Technology Training Centres of the Institute. Three leading companies having expertise in XBRL filings will be the knowledge partners for this initiative. This training will help members to understand XBRL, which is emerging as the most popular reporting language across the world.
 
He said that for the profession to play a greater role in building the nation, the members need to be trained with latest IT skills. As the profession is increasingly growing global it is important to equip practicing members and chartered Accountancy firms with more IT tools that will in turn increase their efficiency in the global work environment. As developing the IT infrastructure is  high on the agenda of the Institute for 2011-12,the following launches were made during the occasion:

1. ICAI Web TV: The Web TV would provide support to the members towards continuing professional education. Educative videos will be hosted on the ICAI Web TV which will enable members to stream lectures of eminent speakers and watch them on their desktops, laptops and mobile phones at their convenience.  All important live events of ICAI would be beamed live on Web and Mobile platform using cutting-edge technology.

2. ICAI Connect: A membership revival campaign, ICAI Connect, was launched. It has been observed that many members working in industry do not renew their membership, which prevents them from getting latest updates on development in the profession. The Institute through ICAI-Connect programmes will make a special effort to reach out to such members.

3. Website for Practitioners & CA Firms: A Website created by the Institute for Small & Medium Practitioners (SMPs) was launched on this occassion. The SMPs would be able to create their portals through this website and shall be able to upload the details of their firms on the proposed website from their end and it shall also provide them an opportunity to reach out to the International practitioners.

4. Project Parivartan 0 BETA: The project took a comprehensive 360 degree view of the existing processes and benchmarked them with the global best practices.Beta version of the new ICAI website was released on July 1, 2011.  The main objective of this Beta release is to share the new perspective on how the Institute perceives to capture thoughts and transform the ICAI Web Portal into a truly members and students friendly.

5. Online Form for Registration for CPT Course: This facility that will enable the students to register themselves 24*7 to CPT course using the online form. This would also have the facility to pay course fee online using credit/debit cards/net banking of various banks. This will bring the students closer to the doorsteps of the ICAI, and other such forms will also be available online in due course.

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(Release ID :72978)