More than one lakh students join the chartered accountancy course every year with 45 to 50 per cent of them being girls. This was mainly due to the lower education costs for pursuing CA when compared to other professional courses, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) president Jaydeep Narendra Shah.

While the ICAI had around 2.10 lakh members at present, a total of 10 lakh students were currently pursuing the course in various centres across the country. Besides 21 chapters in foreign countries, this apex body of chartered accountants had five regional head quarters, 128 branches and 275 CPE study centres, making it one of the largest organisations.

SEMINAR

He was addressing a continuing professional education (CPE) seminar held in the city on Sunday as part of ‘Vithagam’ seminar series organised by the Coimbatore Branch of Southern India Regional Council (SIRC), ICAI.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Lauding the infrastructure at new ICAI Bhavan in Coimbatore, a 34,000 sq.ft-large building with modern IT facilities inaugurated a year back, he said that these were required for development of the profession.

The ICAI had now made mandatory 100 hours of training in information technology besides 15 days in general management and communication skills (GMCS) and 35 hours of orientation.

Further, another 125 to 150 hours of training in SAP, banking software and other advanced audit tools have also been just approved by the council, he added.

K. Jalapathi, chairman, Coimbatore branch, said that around 4,000 students from Pollachi, Udumalpet, Coimbatore, Mettupalayam and the Nilgiris were pursuing CA through the Coimbatore Branch, which had a around 1,350 members.

P. Viswanathan, secretary, ICAI; Shah Dhinal Ashvinbhai, Central Council Member, ICAI; G. Ramaswamy, past president of ICAI; K. Shanmukha Sundaram, past chairman, SIRC of ICAI; A. Sai Prasad, a chartered accountant from Bangalore, and a resource person for the seminar, spoke.