Chandigarh, June 2
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is planning to open a centre of excellence in the city and various other places across the country. The centres will help members improve their skills, said Mr Ashok Chandak, president ICAI. He was addressing the members at a seminar on “Professional regulation” and “Valuation of perquisites” organised by the Chandigarh branch of the institute here today.

He said the institute had recently been allotted land by the Andhra Pradesh Government for the purpose where a centre of excellence would shortly be established. “These centres will provide facilities at par with international standards”, he said.

Emphasising that the image of the profession, should be maintained and improved, Mr Chandak said interaction with state governments was being stressed. “We have recently made a representation to the Central Government to have compulsory tax audit even under the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime”, he said, adding “interactions with state governments will also help provide various professional opportunities”.

He said the CAs would have to form professional set-ups instead of sticking to family entities. “Our dependence on government organisations is likely to reduce in the coming days due to disinvestment and privatisation as these organisations will be out of the CAG purview. Under this situation in which only the fittest will survive, it becomes imperative that professional groups are formed “.

The institute had taken up a project to develop capabilities of small and medium enterprises, he said.

Talking about the code of ethics , he said India was on the top when it came to following the code of ethics in this profession. The recent decision of not permitting a CA to indulge in “other services” by an organisation if the fee from other services was higher than that of the audit fee, proved this , he said.

Mr R. Bupathy, vice-president, ICAI spoke on the valuation of perquisites which are effective from the current assessment year.

Later, Mr Chandak also laid the foundation stone of the new building of the Chandigarh branch of the ICAI in Sector 35. Mr S. P. Babuta, Chairman, Chandigarh branch, said the UT Administration had allotted about 662 square yards of land for the building.