The Hindu Business Line : ICAI to form advisory panel — Sunil Goyal takes over as President

The change of guard comes at a time when the professional body is faced with the twin challenges of globalisation and the Central Government's attempts to curtail the autonomy of the institute through the Chartered Accountants (amendment) Bill, 2003.

As a first step towards tackling such challenges, the institute plans to form a `high-powered advisory council' comprising eminent personalities from industry, government and service sector. "We may have 4-5 members in the advisory council who would suggest new concepts that the profession could absorb for gaining global competitiveness," Mr Goyal told newspersons after taking over as the President of ICAI.

Mr Goyal also said that the Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, has been invited to become a member of this advisory council. At the same time, he also said that the institute was yet to receive any formal confirmation from Mr Murthy in this regard.

The new ICAI President also promised to continue consultations with the Finance Ministry and other concerned ministries to sort out the various problems faced by the domestic CA firms. "We plan to submit a detailed note to the Department of Company Affairs (DCA) in the next fortnight and express our views and concerns on every clause of the Chartered Accountants (amendment) Bill," he said.

Mr Goyal also said that the ICAI has initiated talks with the Railways to see as to how the latter's accounting system could be converted into a accrual-based book-keeping system. Railway's accounts are currently maintained on a cash basis. "Besides Railways, we also plan to approach the Defence Ministry for helping them in adopting an accrual-based accounting system," he said.

Meanwhile, the Central Council of ICAI has elected Mr Kamlesh S. Vikamsey, partner in Mumbai-based Khimji Kunverji & Co, as the Vice-President of ICAI.