The proposed setting up of an International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) in Indian companies by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) would lure a large number of students to take up chartered accountancy, a senior offici al of KPMG said.

Mr Jamil Khatri, executive director of KPMG which does auditing in India through BSR & Co. said that more people in India would take up accounting since the convergence of accounting standards across the globe was gaining momentum.

While the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) were working closely on converging IFRS and Generally Accepted Accounting Standards in US (US GAAP), the ICAI has released a 'Concept Paper on Co nvergence with IFRS in India', which details the strategy and road map for convergence of Generally Accepted Accounting Standards in India (Indian GAAP) with IFRS with effect from April 1 2011.

More than 7,000 listed companies in India are likely to adopt IFRS before April 2011. Therefore, more and more chartered accountants would be required to do the job, he said, adding that this was a huge opportunity for Indian chartered accountants to l ift their status.

Apart from this, more students would also take up accounting as their profession, he said. Currently, there are about 1.5 lakh chartered accountants in our country, he said adding this figure would increase once the convergence momentum increases. BSR & Co. partner Mr Sethuraman Sivaramakrishnan said the implementation of IFRS will have a significant impact on the financial position and performance of companies.