The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has written to corporates urging them not to appoint those CAs who are not registered with the institute.
Uttam Prakash Agarwal, president, ICAI said, ?Whenever a CA?s involvement comes to light in a corporate fraud, the institute can take action against him only if he is a member of the institute.? Referring to the Satyam case, Agarwal said that Price Waterhouse was registered with ICAI. So it is in a position to take disciplinary action against the auditors of the firm. Agarwal said unless the companies, management act cautiously, the CAs who were indulging in malpractices could not be tracked. He further said that there were around 220 cases in various courts where non-chartered accountants have signed the financial statements of companies. Arun Sehgal, associate vice-president, Grant Thornton India said, ?Those chartered accountants who are repeatedly not paying the annual fee to ICAI can still be held guilty. But it would be harsh on the side of ICAI to take such a step also for those chartered accountants who have defaulted to make the payment only once.?
The firm says if a CA has deferred the payment only one time, then the institute should send a reminder to him. Agarwal added, names of the defaulters are struck off from the register of the institute.