The Hindu Business Line : Debit ignorance and credit knowledge

`WHAT'S new' at the www.icai.org includes a continuing professional education (CPE) calendar for the next fiscal year. It lists more than eighty topics for continuing professional education, and there is a mix of obligatory and optional ones to pick from.

Some of the heads are loaded because of the scope they offer for micro-specialisation. For instance, the very first topic "Accounting Standards and other pronouncements of ICAI on accounting" would more often be visible as a seminar titled "AS-22: Issues for consideration", charging Rs 100 and giving two hours of CPE credit. It may not be far-fetched to think of sub-micro specialty topics such as the application of a standard to high net-worth clients!

Useful accounting/audit topics include: certification under export/ import procedures; peer review disclosure/ documentation for practice units; and review and compliance audit of cooperative societies and other government bodies.

Under IT, there are predictable areas: audit in computerised environment, CAATs, detection and prevention of financial crimes using computers, e-filing of returns, information system audit consultancy and documentation, and systems audit.

Disappointingly, there is no mention of the currently debated areas such as outsourcing under the IT umbrella, though a seminar on how accountants can take up preparing returns for US clients would be a sell-out.

Perhaps, the Institute has that as a low priority item, which is why BPO-opportunities for CAs figures under a miscellaneous head that also includes `fraud investigation and reporting' and `jurisprudence and interpretation of law'.

The next year could see talks and seminars organised on WTO-related matters — as for instance, anti-dumping, GATS, TRIMS, TRIPS and so on, where there would be the usual talk about reciprocity and mutual recognition.

Towards the end, there are about a dozen topics, many of which sound either too ambitious or irrelevant. While ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) and FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) may be readily relevant to many members, one wonders if there would be enough numbers for courses on CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or SCM (Supply Chain Management), unless the ICAI is targeting members in companies launching themselves into these acronyms.

Topics such as `comparative analysis of IFAC and ICAI code of ethics' and `implications of code of ethics in disciplinary mechanism' seem more to add to the list's count rather than having a learning hook.

To ensure a better uptake, the CPE directorate has thought of "modular training programmes" or MTPs where the number of participants would be limited. Not a bad idea if completion is defined as attendance throughout the course rather than at the start.

A visit to the ICAI premises may not help much but a click at its Web site could. It is a pity, however, that as a classic case of underplaying, the Institute has stored a wealth of stuff unobtrusively under KM.

That is supposed to mean `knowledge management' and it has an amazingly lot of content hidden, as if behind a mask.

The link would open `Knowledge Sharing' page to list inputs from the different committees of the ICAI. A purposeful browsing of the same could be a good source of education. A priority, therefore, for the Institute is to strengthen the KM segment, especially when the new president Sunil Goyal is advising members to visit the site at least twice a day.

AccountSpeak@thehindu.co.in

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