Time has come for domestic CA firms to look to scale globally and take the footprints of the profession across the world, instead of settling down in their comfort zones with lower ambitions within the country, Piyush Goyal, Union Commerce and Industry, Railways and Consumer Affairs Minister said.

Addressing the Chartered Accountants fraternity on the occasion of the 73rd CA Day, Goyal posed a challenge to the CA Institute . “Let us resolve that when we turn 75 —three years from now—can we all look at having our first set of global first class CA firms serving clients worldwide. Sky is the limit about what we can do,” Goyal said.

Also read: PM Modi greets chartered accountants on CA Day

He said that Indian accounting firms should strive to become international names to reckon with so that “when we go to any part of the world, we too can read about Indian names on large billboards or neon signs of 50-100 storey buildings showcasing an Indian CA firm providing services to the world,” he added.

“More hunger in ambition”

Goyal wanted ICAI to play a facilitating role in helping Indian audit firms achieve scale and help expand their footprints abroad.

“We need to have more hunger in our ambition. Somehow I feel that we have got into a cozy comfort zone where we have settled for low ambitions and satisfied with small wins. People are happy with situations where a firm has 20 CAs, 100 corporate clients and 170 private company clients. We need to have bigger global targets,” he added.

At the same time, Goyal also said that for more CA firms to become ambassadors of India worldwide and start export of services, there is a need to invest in libraries, research and technology and invest in knowledge besides having high standards for accounting profession.

Goyal also cautioned that the ground rules in India for the CA profession should be compatible and comparable to those at the global level.

“Somehow our CAs have been trained to think in a small, myopic way. Globally, the regulations have moved to look at substance over form. Time has come when our CAs should stop playing cat and mouse game with the regulators. They should realise that finding of loopholes and devices to beat the spirit of the law is relic of the past. CAs must ensure orderly behaviour of the profession,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) President, Nihar Jambusaria, said the Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) had on Thursday conveyed its approval for the new guidelines for multi-disciplinary partnerships (MDPs). Jambusaria added this will help Indian audit firms grow in scale into globally competitive firms.

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