Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) president Uttam Prakash Agarwal in an interview with Fes Neha Pal shares the initiatives taken by the institute on the global level. Excerpts:

What action has the ICAI taken against the two Satyam auditorsS 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 auditors 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 institutes 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 comments. The steering committee will thereafter finalise the taxonomy for sending for accreditation by XBRL international.