The biggest hurdle in business today is the lack of global accounting systems, G Ramaswamy, vice president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said here on Sunday. In the next few years, a wide field of opportunities will open up with the convergence of Indian Accounting Standards with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

From April next year, companies listed with BSE, Nifty 50 and other 100,000 network companies will converge with IFRS to implement international accounting norms. ICAI has decided to launch a certificate course on IFRS for its members. The aim is to enhance the knowledge of the members which would benefit them in the global service market.

Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Pune-based study circle Chartered Accountants Conference on its completion of five years, Ramaswamy said, with convergence IFRS, an Indian company will be able to follow the balance sheets of a company listed in NASDAQ or LSE.

The idea is to make the Institute more suitable for the current market needs and open up new opportunties by including current developments into the curriculum. With the emergence of carbon trading, environmental accounting is the next big thing. We are trying to make the existing chartered accountants course more practical and applied along with the theoretical concepts, as a way of getting away from the age old system of mugging up a few text books, said Ramaswamy.

V Balakrishnan, chief financial officer of Infosys, one of the few companies in India that follow the IFRS norms, said, Along with the institute, we are trying to make it more IT savvy. We are working on a collaboration project to help reduce paperwork in its internal administration.

The ICAI is entering into collaborations with Japan for IFRA forums as Japan is willing to use the knowledge base and expertise available in India. At present India has 1,60,000 CAs, but according to estimates, another 2 lakh are needed to meet the industry demands, said Ramaswamy.