The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India wants the central government to empower the ICAI to regulate, monitor and improve the quality of coaching, and also to save students from paying high amounts of fee.

This has become necessary as some corporate colleges in Andhra Pradesh and some other states offering CA course are luring students with objectionable advertisements and canvassing, ICAI’s central council member M Devaraj Reddy has said.

Talking with reporters here on Friday, Reddy, who is heading a committee appointed to look into the mushrooming of sub-standard coaching centres in the country, said that as the ICAI functioned under the ministry of corporate affairs it would recommend to the ministry. Expressing concern that the quality of education being imparted at corporate colleges was not up to the mark and the amounts of fee being collected were huge, Devaraj Reddy said the ICAI had no powers now to crack the whip on such colleges. “ICAI is seeking powers on the lines of powers the UGC and AICTE have, to grant recognition and accreditation to the institutions under it. If empowered, ICAI will give accreditation to all institutions which offer a course in chartered accountancy (CA) in the country. It can also regulate the fee structure,’’ he said.

He said taking coaching at such colleges might help students clear the examination but not help them become competent professionals. He asked candidates to follow the syllabus and study the material offered by ICAI which was prepared by experts.

He said the central council of ICAI also recommended to the ministry of corporate affairs to double the stipend being paid to the Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC) candidates during their three-year articleship.

Campus Interviews from Sept 10 to 13

Vijay Kumar Gupta, another member of the central council, said the ICAI would conduct campus placements in the city from September 10 to 13 for the benefit of nearly 5,000 candidates who completed CA (Final) recently. About 120 companies are expected to hire more than 1,000 candidates at the four-day camp, he said.

Gupta, who is also chairman of the Committee for Members in Industry (CMII) that organises campus placements, said they would conduct placement interviews at 16 places across the country twice a year, once during August-September and again during February-March. Placement interviews were already conducted at Jaipur, Ernakulam, Pune and Ahmedabad.