Has the Proposed Chartered Accountancy Bill Rubbed us the Wrong Way?

Has the Proposed Chartered Accountancy Bill Rubbed us the Wrong Way?

It seems our community (read - Chartered Accountants) feels that the three non-members (read - non CAs), supposed to have shallow knowledge of audit and assurance, cannot deliver fair judgement in the proposed Disciplinary Committee of ICAI. 

This alters the power equation in favour of the three non-members in the committee which oversees complaints and enquiries pertaining to misconduct of members. 

Our community interprets the move as another attempt by the government to assert control over us after the creation of the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) in 2018.

The Bill proposes inclusion of two CAs and three non-CAs (government nominees) in the Disciplinary Committee from two non-CA nominees and three members.

It proposes to have a non-member as the presiding officer of the Disciplinary Committee. It seems this has annoyed our community a lot as the President of ICAI holds considerable influence over the committee's decisions.

The proposals have come after allegations that ICAI Disciplinary Committee has gone very slow and yet to take any tough decision.

The move will not affect the Big Four but small and medium audit firms have to be careful.

ICAI's powers to influence decisions of the Disciplinary Committee will be mostly diminished. 

Our community feels that the government wants to assert control as in NFRA.

It also feels that the approach in most fraud cases has been to go only after the auditors.

It seems the government is about to take away ICAI's powers and see to it that the President as well as ICAI can no more influence the decisions of the Disciplinary Committee.

There is a general inclination against self regulation in our community. The proposed Bill is an attempt by the government to act in an independent way and reduce ICAI's power and influence over the profession.

The main concern in our community is that non-members do not understand our profession, its practicalities and intricacies. If the proposed changes happen there would be an independent and unbiased view in several aspects. 

Over time auditing has become highly technical and specialised. The scope of audit is quite clearly defined through multiple standards. The proposed changes may result in more decisions based on individual judgement than those driven by the governing standards.

Conclusion

The government has proposed the suggested changes after frequent allegations that ICAI Disciplinary Committee had been very slow and too lethargic. It has never taken tough disciplinary actions against the members and particularly the respective audit firms. The cases dragged on for years together. 

I can give numerous examples of violations that have taken place in our community over the last three decades with nothing ever happening to the culprits. The members or the audit firm. I leave that discussion for another occasion.  

What is Your Insecurity

 #supriowrites #beingindian

What is Your Insecurity

Background - This is in response to a post where I have put my views on the writer's page. But for the benefit of my readers I would like to post it on my page here.

This is what she said.

1. She speaks Bengali fluently. Proud to be born in Kolkata.

2. Moved to the USA from Malaysia when she was 9 and since settled there.

3. Encourages speaking in our Indian mother tongue.

4. Tells us to be proud from where we've come. Incredible India.

5. Hashtags #Indianheritage #Bengali

6. Living in USA for the last 20 years.

What I say

There are a lot of Indians, Bengalis settled in USA who will never come back here. I have a lot of close relatives who fall in this category. Well educated. Well placed in the American society. Period.

But I see occasionally, once in a while, they talk of India, being a 100% Bengali, Durga Puja, Bhai phota, nationalism, and things like that. Trying to make us believe kya farak padta hai?

The thing is if you feel you're an Indian, a Bong as much as we are. So be it. No big deal. Why do you need to write about that again and again? What is your insecurity in USA?

My post on 22-08-2021 on LInkedIN re: The Big Four

 This is what CA Neeraj Arora posted yesterday on LinkedIN.

 It is the dream of many CA students to work in big firms and top firms.

Big4s have more than 3 LAKHS EMPLOYEES IN INDIA and more than 11 LAKH EMPLOYEES IN THE WORLD.

 67% of the listed companies in India are being audited by the Big4s.

99.4% of the listed companies in the world, which means 497/500 companies of S&P 500 are being audited by the Big4s.

Financials of companies like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Reliance, TATA, Aditya Birla Group, HDFC are audited by Big4s.

Have you ever wondered how life in Big4s & Top Corporates is?

In the latest video of Neeraj Arora YouTube channel, Archit Agarwal has discussed the same.

Through this video, you will also get to know why you should start your career from a big firm or top firm?

To know the complete details check out the video now.

Link to the video is in the first comment.

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This is what have I posted. I post this here for the benefit of the readers.  

 #supriowrites #bigfour #pwc #deloitte #ey #kpmg

Neeraj Arora You're wrong. The dream is to become a successful CA. And to reach that destination become a successful student. End of the story.

The Big Four global statistics you have collected from Google doesn't add any value to the journey of kaamyaabi to anybody. You've given free publicity to the Big Four which they don't deserve.

I'm a writer. I write case studies. For a long long time. Always remembering them for the wrong reasons. Read my last article where I've written about the sweeping changes the UK government has made to wipe out the dominance of the Big Four. They have scrapped the audit regulator Financial Reporting Council (FRC) which will be replaced by a new audit regulator Audit Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA) in 2023.

Things Chartered Accountants in India should take note of.

You need to read a lot before writing all this. Read about what the Big Four has done in UK, USA, China, Germany. You'll get the long list of all the countries where PwC has cases against them. Check Wikipedia. There are thirty one cases involving PwC across the globe in countries like US, Japan, India, Russia, UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Brazil, Australia, Italy, Spain, Ukraine and Angola. But this list may not be exhaustive. These cases will be written about and discussed later. 

And then get back. We will tally with all that I've written.

Neeraj Arora You have deleted what I have written as you didn't like to hear the truth. But I would like my readers to read it here. 

 

PwC is under Probe in the Religare Fraud - Introduction

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is in the news again for the wrong reasons. PwC is under probe in a multi-crore loan fraud involving Malvinder Singh, former CEO and Chairman, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Shivinder Singh, ex-Vice Chairman, Fortis Healthcare and both one-time promoters of Religare Enterprises. Please read the entire write-up in the next article.

Over the last couple of years I have written on a number of cases involving PwC. Here I wanted to give the checklist for the benefit of readers. Please refer to my earlier articles. 

1. Kerala government bars PricewaterhouseCoopers for two years - December 2020

2. Sebi, MCA probing PwC's resignation as auditor of Reliance Capital and Reliance Home Finance - June 2019

3. PwC Resignation as Auditor of Reliance Capital and Reliance Home Finance Comes Under SEBI and Government Scanner - June 2019

4. SEBI, MCA probe PwC's resignation as auditor of Reliance Capital and Reliance Home Finance; ask stock exchanges to collect necessary information - June 2019

5. Delhi Court Summons PwC India's Chairman Shyamal Mukherjee and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Nandini Chatterjee in a Defamation Case filed by Sarvesh Mathur, former CFO of PwC - September 2019

Every Child Matters - The Horrifying Story Continues

751 unmarked graves found at a now defunct Catholic residential school site in Cowessess in southeastern Saskatchewan province.

This discovery is the most significant and substantial till date in Canada. A grim reminder of years of abuse and prejudice indigenous communities have suffered in Canada as they continue to fight for justice and better living conditions

The church that ran the school removed the headstones.

It comes soon after the remains of 215 children were found at another residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. It focuses on Canada's past policies of forced assimilation. 

The Marieval Indian Residential School operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1899 to 1997. It is unclear if the remains are linked to the school and unmarked graves belong to children. Technical teams will provide a verified number and identify the remains.

The school was founded in 1890s by Catholic missionaries. The federal government began funding the school in 1901 and took over administration in 1969 before turning it over to Cowessess First Nation in 1987. It closed in the 1990s and later demolished.

It was one of the 130 plus compulsory boarding schools funded by Canadian government and run by religious authorities during the 19th and 20th Centuries to assimilate indigenous youth.

6,000 children died in these schools due to filthy health and living conditions inside. 

This is the truth about Canada's cultural genocide. Physical and sexual abuse at the hands of school authorities led others to run away.

Cowessess began to use ground penetrating radar to locate unmarked graves at the cemetery of the school. The announcement marked the first phase of the search efforts.

Cowessess First Nation hopes the church will work with them in investigating further.

This is a shameful reminder of Canada's systemic racism, discrimination and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced.

What are residential schools?

Between 1863 and 1998, 1,50,000 plus indigenous children were taken from their families and put in these schools throughout Canada.

They were not allowed to speak their language or practise their culture and were mistreated and abused.

Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission launched in 2008 to document the impacts of this system found that indigenous children never returned to their home communities. The commission's landmark report said the practice amounted to cultural genocide. 

In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologised for the system.

The Roman Catholic church responsible for the operations of 70% residential schools is yet to issue a formal apology.

The Kamloops discovery reopened old wounds in Canada about the lack of information and accountability around the residential school system, which forcibly separated indigenous children from their families and subjected them to malnutrition, physical and sexual abuse.