07 July 2024
No, a person holding a Certificate of Practice (COP) from May 2024 cannot sign a valuation report for the period ended March 2024. According to the guidelines and regulations under the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the COP allows a Chartered Accountant to undertake professional services only from the date of issuance forward. Therefore, for any valuation report or other professional service requiring a signature, the COP must be valid and in effect at the time of signing.
If the valuation report pertains to a period ending in March 2024, the COP must have been valid for that period. Signing a report retroactively, i.e., for a period before the COP was issued, would not be permissible under the regulatory framework. It's essential to ensure that the COP is valid and covers the period for which the professional services are being rendered or the report is being signed.