The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) today called for changing the existing curriculum system by bringing in branches of specialisation. Talking to reporters here, ICAI President Uttam Prakash Agarwal said frequent changes in the curriculum in the past had been making it difficult for the students.
Releasing the road-map for the next five years for the CA course, he stressed the need for change in the existing curriculum system by enlarging the skill sets of students, besides covering areas of subject-knowledge like communication and presentation skills, IT and team leadership skills, among others. He also suggested curriculum for specialised branches to enable students to branch out at an appropriate stage in their training to specific streams of specialisation like IT practice, corporate audits, IS audit and business valuation.
Mr Agarwal said after taking into account the views of the various stakeholders, movements in the global and Indian economy apart from concerns of industries and regulators, he came out with this five-year perspective plan, which once developed, would not be subjected to frequent changes in the curriculum.
The plan also envisaged to bring in better coaching system, effectively dealing with student training and article system.
”There will be a moderated role for the ICAI in coaching and an active role for accredited institutions in student training,” he added. Among other suggestions mooted by Mr Agarwal included, changing the public perception of the role of accounting profession and putting in an effective quality monitoring system by strengthening institutional framework of quality review board, peer review board and other steps to ensure that accountancy profession scales up on high standards of quality and efficiency.
