Report by India Education bureau; New Delhi: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the regulator of Accountancy profession in India, celebrated its  Foundation Day today. A function was organized to commemorate this occasion as the ICAI enters its 64th year of service to the nation. Over 1200 members and students attended the programme.

Starting with a handful of 1700 members, today, the strength of Chartered Accountant fraternity has grown to almost two lakh members. On the education front, the ICAI began with mere 259 students and today almost ten lakh students are a part of ICAI.

At the outset Shri T.Karthikeyan, Secretary, ICAI welcomed all the members of the profession and esteemed guests. While addressing the gathering Shri Karthikeyan 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.

In his Presidential address, CA.Jaydeep Narendra Shah, President, ICAI said 1st July is a day for introspection for the CA profession. The profession has made its presence felt dominantly in trade, industry, public administration and every other part of social and economic life. The phenomenal growth in the membership base is a reflection of the confidence and trust which the industry and public at large has in this glorious profession.

He added that having a strong accounting profession is a key to having a strong financial infrastructure in a country. Apart from achieving its basic objective of financial reporting, the thinking process of accounting profession worldwide is mainly focused on bringing about the transparency in the functioning of the economy; regaining the public confidence, improved audit oversight function, audit quality framework and alike.

CA.Subodh Kumar Agrawal, Vice President, ICAI thanked the dignitaries and the distinguished gathering. The Vice President said The ICAI since its inception has been the hallmark of transparency, fair play and efficiency in the field of accounting and auditing. Today the CA profession has attained enviable height as it possesses strong intellectual heritage and a tradition of trust.

CA.Ved Jain, Past President, ICAI addressed a special technical session on Recent Issues in Direct Taxes on the occasion.