Cost competitiveness needs to be made as an integral part in every company, according to M Gopalakrishnan, president of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI).

After inaugurating the institutes new CoE here on Sunday, he said CoEs were being planned in Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal and Nagpur.

As compared to accounting, the role of a cost and management accountant is multi-dimensional, he said, terming chartered financial accounting as a kind of post-mortem.
The name change to Institute of Cost Accountants of India (from Institute Cost and Works Accountants of India)) is a New Year gift as far as the ICWAIs 50,000-odd members are concerned, he said.

This would enable them to use the designation Associate Cost and Management Accountant (ACMA) and Fellow (FCMA) henceforth, he said, adding that the function of ACMAs and FCMAs could best be described as predictive and their role revolved around looking into the future and fore-casting costs.

According to ICAI's vice-president Rakesh Singh, being a CMA meant going one step further. That is the key. And while cost escalation and variations had to be considered, the difference in pricing cannot be more than 20 per cent, he said, recalling that the institute had done a study four years ago and prescribed Standard Treatment Guidelines and Protocol for hospitals.

Central Council Member of the Institute, AS Durgaprasad said with the new CoE, Hyderabad had paved the way for other state chapters to follow. The first project to be taken up was to work on Risk management in pharmaceutical sector with particular focus on volatility in price due to the dollar variation and competition from China. A Special Interest Group (SIG) was constituted for the purpose as was another for the infrastructure sector, he said