The Hindu Business Line : Now is the time for farewells and receptions

DON'T compare us with unequals. This was the refrain of chartered accountants who had gathered for a meeting with the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, about a week ago. What is irking them is that the Government proposes to have boilerplate legislation for each of the three professional bodies — the ICAI, the ICSI and the ICWAI. However, the reference of the CA Bill to a `Select Committee' has come as great relief, like a temporary relief from execution.

The outgoing prez, Mr R. Bupathy, pointed out how the cost of the proposed Appellate Authority would be disproportionately distributed, with a skew against the ICAI, thereby necessitating a likely hike in members' fee. Another bleak picture he painted was about the expanding membership of the Institute vis-à-vis the shrinking number of traditional jobs such as bank audits. He also spoke of how peer review has kick-started already, and why it is necessary for firms to network. On the positive side, there could be new jobs coming from the taxman, as for instance e-filing of returns, but it would be necessary for the CAs to be prepared for the same, he said. Also, after long, the ICAI's `Benevolent Fund' (CABF) has finalised a collective insurance cover, called the "Group Protection Solution Scheme".

The idea of `networking' among CA firms envisages smaller firms with different competencies coming together and projecting themselves as one front — something that sounds as ambitious or eerie as forming political alliances for fighting elections. Yet, this could be the trajectory of a plausible evolution, driven more by necessity than by any mandating.

As it always happens with helmsmen who tend to overdo the visionary stuff, a lurking fear with `networking' is whether it is emanating from too much thinking aloud, and so it is something that may not translate into reality. The `Virtual Institute Project' too, floated with much fanfare, appears to be more in the virtual space than the actual sphere, even as VIPs change in the governing council.

But this is the bane of most bodies saddled with a weakened administration that relies too heavily on elected representatives who, at best, are a cocktail of interests often in a hurry to get done with individual agendas. Top men engage themselves, usually, with the extremes — `concrete' results in the name of infrastructure development or plain daydreaming. Thus, the end-of-term tally would talk about the count of foundation stones laid or the number of ribbons cut for finished buildings and rooms, or levitate to visionary statements such as: "To revisit all segments of the profession in order to better understand its concerns, viewpoints, issues, needs and hopes for the future; to develop new vision for the profession and to restructure in order to achieve the same; to formulate strategies for the success of profession in rapidly changing economic scenario; and to give a platform for paradigm shift and to become total business solution provider."

The new council can, therefore, devote some time for an essential exercise: Devising metrics for assessing the performance of its members.

AccountSpeak@yahoo.co.uk

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