Indian chartered accountants sign exchange programme with Australia

Indian chartered accountants can now practise in Australia with the inking of an agreement between the chartered accountants institutes of India and Australia at an event here.
The agreement, signed Friday evening, will facilitate exchange of accounting professionals of the two countries.

The agreement was signed by Institute of Chartered Accountants in India (ICAI) chairman Uttam Prakash Agarwal and Graham Meyer, CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia, during an international convention of chartered accountants being held in the city of the Taj.

“In the era of globalisation this would serve as a major step in providing support to our members to excel,” Agarwal said.

Sir David Tweedie, chairman International Accounting Standards Board, welcomed the initiative and hoped this would pave the way for similar exchanges with other countries.

Graham Meyer of the Australian Institute said India and Australia had fairly strong trade ties. The new agreement would not only facilitate movement of professionals between the two countries but also create better understanding and bonds, he added.

The conference is being attended by over 2,000 Indian delegates and more than 50 delegates from 20 countries.

The theme of the three-day convention, organised by the Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants, which is celebrating its diamond jubilee this year, is ‘Winds of Change: Global Strategies for Accounting Profession’.

Conference officials said agreements with several countries were likely to be signed, which would allow Indian CAs to practise in those countries without having to undergo tests.

Accounting is the study of how businesses track their income and assets over time

Accounting is the study of how businesses track their income and assets over time. Accountants engage in a wide variety of activities besides preparing financial statements and recording business transactions including computing costs and efficiency gains from new technologies, participating in strategies for mergers and acquisitions, quality management, developing and using information systems to track financial performance, tax strategy, and health care benefits management.

There’s a lot to get out of a career in accounting. Perhaps most important: You will learn how business works. The field of accounting offers stimulating and challenging work that is constantly evolving. Because accountants spend a lot of time looking under the hoods of businesses they really learn howbusiness works . It’s no surprise that many successful players in business began their careers as accountants. It’s also no surprise that most Chief Financial Officers of large corporations have a background in accounting. An accountant is perfectly positioned to become a CFO because he or she probably has the best understanding of what drives business and profits in a company.

Audit: Work in audit involves checking accounting ledgers and financial statements within corporations and government. This work is becoming increasingly computerized and can rely on sophisticated random sampling methods. Audit is the bread and butter work of accounting. This work can involve significant travel and allows you to really understand how money is being made in the company that you are analyzing. It’s great background!

Budget Analysis: Budget analysts are responsible for developing and managing an organization’s financial plans. There are plentiful jobs in this area in government and private industry. Besides quantitative skills many budget analyst jobs require good people skills because of negotiations involved in the work

Financial: Financial accountants prepare financial statements based on general ledgers and participate in important financial decisions involving mergers & acquisitions, benefits/ERISA planning and long-term financial projections. The work can be varied over time. One day you may be running spreadsheets. The next day you may be visiting a customer or supplier to set up a new account and discuss business. This work requires a good understanding of both accounting and finance.

Management Accounting: Management accountants work in companies and participate in decisions about capital budgeting and line of business analysis. Major functions include cost analysis, analysis of new contracts and participation in efforts to control expenses efficiently. This work often involves the analysis of the structure of organizations. Is responsibility to spend money in a company at the right level of our organization? Are goals and objectives to control costs being communicated effectively? Historically, many management accountants have been derided as “bean counters”. This mentality has undergone major change as management accountants now often work side by side with marketing and finance to develop new business. Tax

Tax accountants prepare corporate and personal income tax statements and formulate tax strategies involving issues such as financial choice, how to best treat a merger or acquisition, deferral of taxes, when to expense items and the like. This work requires a thorough understanding of economics and the tax code. Increasingly, large corporations are looking for persons with both an accounting and a legal background in tax. A person, for example, with a JD and an CPA would be especially desirable to many firms.

Global accounting respite for SMEs

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country will not have to prepare their accounts as per the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from April 1, 2011, saving them significant cost of switching to the more rigorous accounting standard A government-constituted core panel on IFRS has decided to exempt SMEs from the first phase of convergence falling due in 2011.

The SME sector, which contributes significantly to the Indian economy, will continue to follow existing Indian accounting standards , which may be modified from time to time to make the sector more competent in the international arena.

Convergence to IFRS is a costly exercise which includes an overhaul of operational and IT processes apart from training costs. A small enterprise for this exemption is likely to be one where the investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs 25,00,000 does not exceed Rs 5 crore. A medium enterprise is one where investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs 5 crore but does not exceed Rs 10 crore.

In November last year, the government had hinted at preparing a watered-down version of IFRS for the SMEs. Industry preparedness in converging with IFRS is a key factor, specially for SMEs who may feel the convergence as cost-prohibitive. Stating company’s accounts as per IFRS will involve huge cost and is being considered world wide as a hurdle for SMEs.

Recently, a core committee of the government finalised the road map for IFRS convergence in India. The ICAI has said that all entities having net worth in excess of Rs 1,000 crore will have to follow IFRS. The list also includes all NSE and BSE listed companies, entities having foreign borrowings of more than Rs 500 crore, insurance entities , mutual funds, venture capital funds and all scheduled banks having operations outside India.

Indian Inc Waiting For IFRS

International Financial Reporting Standards, is the modern financial reporting framework that the whole world, including India, is adopting. Apart from the benefits of having a uniform accounting standard worldwide, IFRS would also enable Indian companies to tap global financial markets and will encourage free flow of capital, goods and labour across borders. Since some of these reporting standards are market sensitive, they sometimes have material impact on reported results which could lead to stock price volatility.IFRS is a new concept that in many cases is vastly different from the manner in which it treats the accounting of items in a company’s profit and loss account and the balance sheet. Since some of these reporting standards are market sensitive, they sometimes have material impact on reported results which could lead to stock price volatility.

The biggest names in the accountancy world come together for the first time to address issues involved in India's transition to IFRS at the Implementing IFRS conferences being organized by Get Through Guides (GTG) with ACCA as platinum sponsors. Implementing IFRS would witness eminent speakers from distinguished financial bodies, renowned accounting firms and financial heads of domestic companies sharing their views on the systems and processes that companies in India need to implement to ensure a smooth transition to IFRS.

India Inc will experience drastic changes in the way financial statements are reported. India is among the 150-odd countries that have decided to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2011. Starting fiscal year 2011, IFRS will be coming to about 400 Indian companies that constitute the Sensex, the Nifty 50 and companies whose securities are listed on stock exchanges outside India as well as companies having net worth of Rs 1,000 croreStarting fiscal year 2011, IFRS will be coming to about 400 Indian companies that constitute the Sensex, the Nifty 50 and companies whose securities are listed on stock exchanges outside India as well as companies having net worth of Rs 1,000 crore.