Accounting regulator, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has decided to allow officials of the Indian Audits and Accounts Service (IA&AS)—the stream of civil servants who audit state-run companies—acquire the chartered accountancy (CA) qualification in less than the usual time. Officers of IA&AS, a central government service under the government’s statutory auditor the Comptroller and Auditor General of India , will now be able to become qualified CAs by undergoing only two years of training rather than the mandatory three year training called articleship.
Regular CA students begin the three-year articleship after higher secondary education and passing a proficiency test.
IA&AS is responsible for auditing the accounts of the union and state governments and public sector organisations. Recruitment to this stream of civil service is through a combined competitive examination which also selects officers of the Indian Foreign Service, Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Revenue Service(IRS).
ICAI president Uttam Prakash Agarwal said the regulator’s council has taken a decision to synergise with the IA&AS officers who belong to the office of CAG.
“In this case, one year work experience of the IA&AS officers would be recognised as equivalent to one year of practical training and the balance period of practical training has to be undergone by the officers under a practising chartered accountant,” Agarwal said.
Accordingly, these officers desirous of becoming CAs would be required to write all the papers prescribed for Common Proficiency Test (CPT), Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC) and the CA Final course. The IA&AS officers can appear in the CA final course during the last six months of their practical training as per the present scheme of Education and Training namely CPT, IPCC and Final. The minimum time taken for a CA student to get the degree is four to four and half years but for an IA&AS officer, the minimum time would be three years.
Agarwal said that IA&AS officers belong to a unique service category auditing the government as well as public sector financial resources.
The C&AG is answerable only to Parliament and cannot be pressurised by the government. All government institutions and public sector undertakings are audited by the C&AG which have a national impact.
I being groub B officer working in southern railway accounts organisation total service completed 38 years. My qualifications is B.com, MBA now willing to study ca course. Am I eligible for article ship training of 3 years. Please clarify. Now iam in service. By.r.kalyanasundaram. senior assistant financial manager./ S.railway/ Chennai.
I am doing CA.i want to know how can i be able to join IA&AS..
Actual Auditing work of C&AG of India are done by the Officers who have passed the SAS/SOGE examination conducted by the C&AG. These Officers are of the cadres of Section Officers, Assiatant Audit Officers, Audit Officers and Senior Audit Officers.
IA&AS Officers merely approve the report based on the comments given by the SOGE passed officers. Even reports are prepared by these SOGE passed officers. These SOGE passed officers are responsible for visiting all PSUs and Government Offices and conducting their audit. Based on their audit, the prepare report called Local Audit Report which are send to the Headquarters Office. These reports are then vetted by the SOGE/SAS passed officers in the Headquarters Office based on the Key Documents kept in the file. Thereafter, these reports are issued under the sign of IA&AS Officers.
Thus, Actual auditing work in field are done by SOGE/SAS passed officers. Hence, the present exemption should also be extended to these SAS/SOGE passed Officers.