The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) today held its ever first convocation ceremony for the southern region at Chennai. CA. K. Rahman Khan, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, was the chief guest and distributed the certificates to the rank holders. CA. Ved Jain, President of the Institute gave away the convocation credentials on this occasion. South Indian Regional Council (SIRC) covers the four southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu andis thesecond largest Region of ICAI in the country serving 33,000 members and 200,000 students. 5rank holders who were present to receive the certicatesare as follows – Archana Challa, Vinay P Vaswani, Chittatanjan Reddy A, Praveen Kumar Jain G and Balakrishnan V.

CA.V. Murali, Vice - Chairman, Board of Studies & Convocation Convenor, complimented the President of ICAI CA.Ved Jain for conceiving the idea of organizing "Convocation" for the newly enrolled Chartered Accountants in a befitting manner and chalking out the idea with immaculate precision. He further added that this unique occasion would help to create fellowship, friendship and nostalgia amongst the CA fraternity, particularly in today's context, where the CAs are in great demand and looked upon for continuous guidance in these times of global meltdown. CA. Uttam Prakash Agarwal, Vice-President, ICAI and CA. Jaydeep Narendra Shah, Chairman, Board of Studies, also addressed the galaxy of Chartered Accountants at this path breaking function.

Addressing the 800 plus students present for the convocation, President, ICAI, CA Ved Jain said that he has lot of hope pinned on the young Chartered Accountants as he wishes to see them at the helms of affairs in whichever sector/industry they join. He shared the efforts and initiatives taken by the Institute for global acceptance of Indian CA's, by reaching an advanced stage of discussions with the counter parts in other nations. This will open new vistas for the upcoming Chartered Accountants. He reiterated his vision of seeing the next decade belonging to the Chartered Accountants as the last decade belonged to the IT professionals.

Out of the 800 plus students who received their certificates 16 are rank holders.On this occasion, male members received certificate of membership along with the Institute's tie, Lapel Pin and members Handkit while female recipient received a Saree Pin, Scarf and Members Handkit.

CA. Jain added that in this global financial melt down and recession, if there is a profession which can guide and take the lead in ensuring financial discipline it is the Profession of Accounting. It is our profession, which can aid in proper decision making at all levels of management. A Chartered Accountant is not only best suited for Finance but be can excel at all levels including Human Resources, policymaking and a complete business solution provider.

CA. Jain also stated that members of ICAI with two years of post qualification experience will now be eligible for membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (ICAEW) on passing one paper of the ICAEW Course. The ICAI members with less than two years of experience will be required to pass 3 papers of ICAEW Course as per Mutual Reciprocal Agreement signed between ICAI and ICAEW last week at Jaipur.

On the other hand, members of ICAEW who are trained in public practice will become eligible for ICAI membership subject to passing 4 papers of ICAI Course.

Background of ICAI

An Act of Parliament formed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on July 1, 1949. Since then, the profession of accounting in India, has witnessed numerous situations and challenges like the birth of democracy, clamping of emergency and opening up of the economy, global financial crisis etc.

It is the second largest accounting body in the world.It has its headquarters in New Delhi and operates through five regional offices and 117 branches all across the country and 21 overseas Chapters. A Council of elected representatives and those nominated by the Government manages the Institute.

The CA Course is academically well structured with emphasis on an in-depth study of the subjects including accounting, auditing, taxation, commercial laws, etc and is considered to be one of the most comprehensive courses. The Institute is possibly the largest educational Institute in India having 3,50,000 students and over 150,500 members. The strength of the students of the Institute is probably more than any other University in the country. The number of candidates that have enrolled for the Chartered Accountancy course in the last 3-4 years on rise.

Year

No. of Students enrolled

2001-05

38,000

2006

99,000

2007

1,53,000

The Institute has witnessed a record registration of 92,000 candidates for the entrance exam i.e Common Proficiency Test (CPT) scheduled for December 14th,2008.For the examinations which concluded today–Professional Competence Examination (PCE) and Final, more than 90,000 students appeared which reflects the upward trend being witnessed in chartered accountancy course. In the years to come, approx. 30,000 Chartered Accountants will pass out every year to adequately meet the growing demand of accountancy professionals in the dynamic economy.

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