Action may not always bring happiness...but there is no happiness without action.
- Benjamin Disraeli
Dear Professional Colleagues,
We are approaching the festive season, which brings joy to the millions of lives in our country. Celebrated in all parts of the country under different names, Durga Puja in the East, Navrathiri in the South, West and North, Dussera in the North and South and Diwali for the entire country. The celebrations are a moment for the humanity to pause, taking stock of the good tidings and offer our gratefulness to the God in own manner. The forthcoming month is an opportunity also to pay respects to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, whose principles continue to be relevant even today.
The past month has been a very active in the terms of professional activities in the Institute starting right from day one till the last day of the month, by a series of programmes held through the country and abroad.
ICWAI is scaling up its International Activities by making a meaningful contribution to the regional and international groupings of accountants. ICWAI delegation to CAPA Conference at Brisbane led by Shri. Rakesh Singh, Vice President comprising Shri. B M Sharma, immediate past President and Shri. Sanjay Gupta, CCM. Shri. A N Raman, President, SAFA made a presentation on “Adopting an Integrated Framework in Embedding Sustainability And Driving Business Value” at CAPA Conference at Brisbane, Australia on 8th September 2011.
The series of seminars on CARR and CAR continued during the month also, starting from Mysore Chapter on 4th September 2011 and followed by WIRC programme in Mumbai on 16th and 17th September. The XBRL meeting was kick started during the month with Hyderabad hosting the first meeting on 6th September 2011, which was also webcast (witnessed in India and abroad). This was followed by meetings at Delhi on 9th September 2011, followed by SIRC programme on 10th September 2011. The Institute has started a new initiative of bringing the industry and the profession together, by organising CEO & CFO meets at various centres across the country. Two such meetings were held on the same day i.e. 16th September 2011 at Mumbai and Kolkata. I participated at the CEO meet at Kolkata and I thank the former Presidents Shri B. D. Bose, Shri Harijiban Banerjee and Shri Amal Kumar Das, apart from the Central Council members from the region. The CFO meet at Mumbai was highly successful with National Task Force on CARR & CAR Chairman, Shri J.K.Puri, guiding it ably assisted by Shri. V. Kalyanaraman and Shri Dhananjay Joshi (former Presidents) along with the Central Council Members of the region. The meetings gave a unique opportunity for interacting with the industry leaders and get their views on improving the profession.
I participated in the meeting of Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board (GASAB) held at New Delhi on 7th September 2011, in which significant progress was made in the discussion on Govt. Accounting Standards to be adopted. Based on the inputs of ICWAI during this meeting, GASAB Secretariat requested ICWAI for a resource person for their conference on "Road Map to Accrual Accounting" held on 26th September 2011.
The All India Student’s Conference “Yuvanmosha 2011” was held in Chennai on 20th and 21st September 2011, graced by the presence of Honourable Union Minister of Corporate Affairs, Dr M.Veerappa Moily ji. I am sure the enthusiasm for contributing to the National progress by two thousand students of our Institute present during the Conference may have impressed the Hon'ble Minister. The Minister announced a slew of measures in the offing for greater transparency and governance starting with Public Procurement Policy and Competition Bill (Amendment) and Companies Bill which are expected to be discussed in the winter session of the Parliament. The inauguration of the event was also webcast and can be viewed in the "Archives" section of the Institute website throughout the month. Hon'ble Minister also presented the prizes for rank holders from the Southern Region, passing the Institute examination. During the function, I also impressed upon Hon'ble Minister to favourably consider the pending issues related to the institute.
The week immediately following the conference was one of intense professional activity starting with Cost Accounting Standards Board meeting on 22nd September 2011; Cost Audit and Assurance Standards Board meeting on 23rd September and Council meeting on 24th September 2011. I would like to share some of the key decisions taken in the 271st meeting of the Council viz.
1. Approval of the Generally Accepted Cost Accounting Principles
2. Approval of the Revised Preface to the Cost Accounting Standards
3. Approval of the Preface to Cost Audit and Assurance Standards
4. Approval of the Guidance Manual for Audit Quality of Quality Review Board
5. Approval of the formation of the “National Advisory Board” consisting of eminent members from industry and profession.
6. Approval of guidelines for formation of CEP Study Circles by Regional Councils and Chapters
7. Formation of “Toronto Overseas Center of Cost Accountants” to serve the members from Canada.
8. Formation of ‘Extension Centres of the Technical Directorate” at Chennai and Mumbai under the Technical Directorate to be followed by other major centres in due course.
These initiatives will pave way for accelerating the pace of professional development in future. I am sure that these will be welcomed by the members.
The Council meeting was followed by the SAFA Board meeting at Kathmandu, Nepal on 25th September 2011 which adopted a number of initiatives such as MOU with GRI, adoption of SAFA bye laws and the alliance of SAFA-EFAA (European Federation of Accountants and Auditors). On the sidelines of the SAFA Board meeting, the member bodies led by Shri. A. N. Raman, President SAFA, held significant discussions with Mr. Aziz Ahmazada and Shri. Amrit Lugun, Directors, SAARC Secretariat, on aligning with the objectives of SAARC on 26th September 2011. Central Council Members, Shri. A. Om Prakash and Mr. Amit Apte held informal discussions with member bodies on the roadmap to develop common curriculum among the member bodies during the meetings of SAFA.
Professional Development Directorate
Professional Development Committee in association with e-Governance of Ministry of Corporate Affairs organized an Interactive Session for the members in practice on 9th September 2011 to familiarize the members about the various initiatives taken Ministry of Corporate Affairs and suggestions for improvements in MCA 21 portal and future expected services from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. I had the opportunity to address the members and am sure the interactive session with MCA officials helped in resolving various difficulties faced in e-filing, during the programme.
Directorate of Advanced Studies
The Advanced Studies Directorate is finalizing the course content and other specifications for its two post qualification courses, namely,
(i) Certificate Course on Business Valuation Management, and
(ii) Certificate Course on Foreign Exchange, Treasury and Risk Management
The Directorate is also exploring the strategic partnerships with esteemed educational/ industrial set ups to add more value and weight to the announced courses by imparting their domain expertise to the programmes of similar nature.
CEP Directorate
I am happy to note that CEP Directorate organised three programmes on eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai during 3rd September, 4th September and 12th September 2011 respectively. Self-run programmes were held at Port Blair on the topics `Internal Auditing’ & `Recent Trends in Financial Management' and programmes on Proposed DTC and GST at Chennai. Our in-house programmes for ONGC Limited on `IFRS Convergence’ which were organized at Kolkata and Ahmedabad were highly appreciated. In addition, in the series of Certificate Course on IFRS Convergence, a course was organized at Bangalore. I am pleased to inform you that for the first time a three Month module was introduced specially for Indian Navy on the topic ‘Finance Accounting, Costing, Project and Contract Management’ during 4th July to 23rd September, 2011. While addressing the valediction function of the programme, I shared the proposed initiative of the Government on the Public Procurement Policy and the support Institute is planning, which will also be useful for the defence forces.
Directorate of CAT
I am very happy to inform that additional Examination centres in Srinagar and Palampur (Himachal Pradesh) for CAT have been opened. Palampur will be the first centre of the Institute in the State of Himachal Pradesh. This will go a long way in benefiting the students from Kashmir Valley and Himachal Pradesh.
Directorate of Training and Placement
I am elated to inform that the Campus Placement for June 2011 Final qualified students is scheduled in the 3rd and 4th week of October 2011 in 4 (four) regions. The initiative for connecting experienced members to enhance their career opportunities, as a regular scheme is also on the anvil. Placement Directorate will be coming out with a suitable mechanism shortly.
In the end I share with you the news of sad demise of Mr. Pramod D. Parkhi on 24th September, 2011. He was President of the Institute during 1988-89 and did yeoman service to the profession. I join you in paying homage to the departed soul and express our deep condolences to his family.
On an aside, I would like to share with the members an interesting book “The Tipping Point” which talks about the three rules of the Tipping Point viz. the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few, explains how a few well connected individuals can make a concept spread like wild fire. The Stickiness Factor talks about making a concept continue to get the eyeball, after the initial launch. The Power of Context shows how a group of persons connected with a common objective can make a big impact. With the advent of the success of e-groups, which are quite active in our profession also, any positive approach by them will make a big impact on the image of the profession. Let us Tip the Point to a positive flavour for our Institute and profession, which will be of great help and encouragement to the new Council, to serve you with the best of their abilities. Taking advantage of this concept, we have started a discussion forum in our institute on management accounting related matters, which is available at our website.
With best wishes and greetings for the festival season once again,
With regards,
(M Gopalakrishnan)
President
1st October 2011
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