Appointment of branch statutory auditors of Public Sector Banks – Chartered Accountants from North Eastern Region. RBI has decided to relax the eligibility norm in respect of professional standing of individual auditors/proprietar y audit firms from the North-Eastern Region (viz. the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) by reducing the period from 3 years to 1 year from the year 2008-09 and onwards.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said on Thursday it will launch a course of accounting technicians from April 22 for undergraduate students. “We are launching this course considering that there is a need for second tier of accountants, with so many accounting jobs coming up in the country,” ICAI president Ved Jain told reporters here.

In what could be a significant deterrent to corporate frauds, the concept of rotation of partners received a green signal from the apex body for chartered accountants, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), and mandates change of partners after seven consecutive years with a listed company. The step, cleared by ICAI, will be operational from April 2009 and is expected to significantly reduce complexity between individual partners in audit firms and their assigned companies, something that has been a cause behind many of the big corporate frauds to have hit the financial world.

The Institute has been receiving complaints from members of the Institute, proprietary concerns and firms of Chartered Accountants alleging that they have come across audit reports, balance sheets, certificates etc. of different entities submitted by the said entities/someone with Banks, Financial Institutions, Income-Tax Department, etc. wherein they find that their signatures, seal/stamp have been forged and /or such documents have been prepared on their forged letterhead etc. The members of the Institute, proprietary concerns and firms of chartered Accountants have been requesting the Institute to take necessary legal action in such matters.

Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India v. Dayal Singh The officers of the bank completed all paper formalities, perhaps at the behest of the respondent or at least on the basis of his certificate for disbursement of the loan. The activity of the respondent in issuing such a vague certificate with the intention of persuading the bank to grant his client a loan amounted to `other misconduct’ within the meaning of the Act, read with the regulations framed thereunder.

HC asks Britannia to return pension money Firm had challenged an Income Tax dept show cause notice on why it withdrew such a huge amount from the employees’ fund.Britannia Industries (BIL) has been asked by the Calcutta High Court to pay back the Rs 12 crore it allegedly withdrew from the company’s pension fund. BIL had recieved a showcause notice from the income tax department to explain the withdrawal in 2003.

The Supreme Court has upheld the revised accounting standards AS 22 issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India which has been made mandatory for all the companies listed in the stock exchanges since the financial year 2001-02. Dismissing the appeals of a large number of companies that opposed the new policy, the bench headed by Justice SH Kapadia said AS 22 sought to arrive at the true accounting income.

The departmental heads who were earlier sceptical of the role of internal audit were appreciative of the internal audit reviews carried out and also started making number of requests for internal auditing of all new processes including new computer applications. They also requested internal auditors for continuous assurance work including reviews of all processes from time to time. This led the Chief Internal Auditor to prioritise internal audit work based on availability of resources and also on the criticality of process.

A leading consumer goods industry in India, with a turnover of more than Rs.250 crores with activities spread across the country covering both the urban and rural markets, has been facing a downward trend in its sales along with rising marketing costs. Top management has been grappling with a changing consumer preference trend guided by the entry of a strong MNC competitor. Some major promoters and key marketing personnel have changed loyalties and have shifted to competition. The Board has been concerned about this disturbing trend and has been reviewing the strategies being adopted by the company to adapt to these changes and retain the earlier good performance. Audit Committee meeting held along with this Board Meeting focussed on this important business issue.