The Hindu Business Line : Core group formed for multi-disciplinary firms

New Delhi, March 22 With the creation of multidisciplinary firms on the anvil, the three professional institutes of company secretaries, chartered accountants, and cost and work accountants have formed a core group to lay out norms for such firms. The core group is looking into issues such as code of conduct for members and naming of such firms.

Mr N.K. Jain, Secretary and CEO, Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), told Business Line that “the intent is to create a level playing field for all professionals.”

In the light of the global opportunities this sector offers today, the Government has empowered company secretaries, chartered accountants, and cost and works accountants to form multidisciplinary firms and offer multi-professional services in a competitive and commercial manner. Clarification is needed on the code of conduct applicable to the partners of such entities in case the firm defaults, Mr Jain said.

“Partners may be guided by the respective codes of conduct of professional bodies like ICSI and ICAI. But whether the firm is also to comply with the codes of all the institutes of which the partners are members needs to be addressed,” he said.

If foreign partners are involved, the applicability of Indian regulations over such foreign professional bodies needs to be clarified, he added. “There could also be engineers or architects as partners. How to lay down and achieve code of conduct over multidisciplinary firms involving such partners is another issue,” Mr Jain said.

Besides, once the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) law is enacted, all provisions regulating professional bodies like the ICSI may require to be modified by the respective regulatory authority, allowing multidisciplinary partnerships, he said.

On the naming of such firms, he said: “Whether they can be called as company secretaries or chartered accountants after such formations needs to be clarified.”