Parliament passes accountancy bill

Parliament on Tuesday passed a bill to revamp the functioning of the institutes of chartered accountants, cost accountants and company secretaries.

With the passing of this Bill in the Upper House, it got final approval of the Parliament as it was already passed by the Lok Sabha on March 30.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asserted that the changes will facilitate India in creating homegrown world class institutions soon, comparable with the 'Big Four' in the audit and accountancy areas, and meet the global demands.

Rajya Sabha passed the bill after negating all amendments moved by the Opposition.

Sitharaman, who is in charge of finance and corporate affairs ministries, noted that the bill has been envisaged after consulting various stakeholders and taking into account the findings of the Meenakshi Datta Ghosh committee.

Reiterating the need to bring the bill, Sitharaman said the corporate governance system needs to be robust in order to meet the global investment expectations.

Besides, she said there is a need to bring greater robustness and accountability in India's standards of audit and how audit certificates are being given.

Dispelling apprehensions expressed by certain members regarding the autonomy of the three institutes, she said their functioning continue to be governed by their respective three Acts.

The Congress, TMC, DMK, CPI (M) and YSRCP opposed the bill, citing "infirmities" and alleging that it was a blatant attack on professional autonomy.

"This one Act which is going to have an impact on each of these Acts only to a limited extent of bringing in greater transparency in the disciplinary processes with which these institutes function," Sitharaman asserted.

The three institutes -- Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Institute of Cost Accountants of India (formerly known as ICWAI), and Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) -- will continue to have the authority for qualifying and licensing of people and regulation of their conduct as was done before, she said.

The bill amends the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959, and the Company Secretaries Act, 1980.

Among other things, the bill provides for the setting up of a coordination committee headed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It will have representations from the three institutes.

The bill also provides for registration of firms with the institutes and it will help in paving the way for Indian accountancy firms to grow big, she said.

It also proposes to enhance the quantum of fines for partners and firms found guilty of misconduct.

The legislation also seeks to appoint non-Chartered Accountant (CA), non-cost accountant and non-company secretary as the presiding officer of the disciplinary committees of the respective institutes.