During the WCOA 2022 (ICAI-IFAC) conference, a number of presenters mentioned that the ICAI plays an important role as a knowledge-based national standard setter, as will be summarised below:
CA AC Chakrabortti, past president of the ICAI, acknowledged that standard setting is a difficult and time-consuming task. He said, “Accounting standards are the mother of all standards.” He also pointed out that India adopted the IFRS/IND-AS in 2015 and praised the ICAI for taking steps to build the country’s capacity to make sure the change went smoothly.
CA Charanjot Singh Nanda, Chairman of the ICAI’s Digital Accounting & Assurance Board and Internal Audit Standards Board, stated that international benchmarking, normal business practises and prepositions, and local conditions are required to be considered in order to formulate forensic accounting and investigation standards. He went on to say that the ICAI is developing a knowledge base consisting of industry professionals in order to formulate the standards.
CA Pramod Jain, Chairman of the Accounting Standards Board at the ICAI, elaborated on the fact that the ICAI is the most important body in India that is responsible for establishing standards and ensuring that those standards are implemented. He informed the audience about the journey that ASB has been on, beginning with its founding in 1987 and continuing up until the present day. He went on to say that the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) have been aligned with IFRS and Accounting Standards, with the ASB playing an important role in their development.
CA Mangesh P. Kinare, Chairman of the ICAI’s Ethical Standards Board (ESB) and Valuation Standards Board (VSB), emphasised that the ICAI requires its members to comply with the principles of ethics while they are performing their duties. Because of this, the ethical standards for chartered accountants have been codified. The ESB of the ICAI serves not only as a standard-setter but also as a regulator and an enabler of members’ adherence to ethical principles. He went on to say that VSB is acting as a catalyst in the execution of valuation standards in order to bring standardisation to the various valuation practises that are currently being utilised across the various asset classes.
It was stated by CA Gyan Chandra Misra, Vice Chairman of the Internal Audit Standards Board (IASB) of the ICAI, that there has been a paradigm shift in the internal audit environment as a result of the development of technology and statutory legislation. The significance of the contribution made by internal audit to the day-to-day operations and governance of organisations has been acknowledged on a global scale. The ICAI’s internal audit standards codify the best practises that can be found in the field of internal auditing.