With increased number of financial frauds and irregularities coming to the fore, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the regulatory body for chartered accountants (CAs), has become more relevant now, says its 62nd president CA K Raghu to FE?s Ashish Sinha in his first interview after taking charge. Excerpts:

What is the current strength of CAs? Is it enough to service the requirements of nearly 10 lakh active companies?

We have a total of about 240,000 member CAs in the country, of which nearly half are in private practice. Under the new Companies Act, 2013, each qualified CA can audit up to 20 companies. Based on current CA strength, I think we have sufficient number of CAs to meet any present or future requirements.

Going forward, we are focusing on specialised content for CAs which will make them more useful to companies in situations like mergers, acquisation, etc.

What are you main concerns with the proposed National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) now mandated under the new Companies Act, 2013?

We have a number of concerns which have been communicated to the ministry of corporate affairs. They have heard our concerns and we are confident that while notifying the rules to the remaining sections of the new Act, the government will address our concerns. We have told the MCA that there is no need for duplicating the work of regulators. What ICAI has done over the years should not be replicated by NFRA. We are doing our job well and we will continue to do so in the future. We feel a much wider consultative process is required before rules are framed for NFRA, including involvement of ICAI.

What is ICAI?s view on the proposed cap of 20 companies per auditor?

We feel that all private as well as one person company (OPC) should be kept out of the proposed cap of ?20 company per auditor? norm. We feel this idea is not workable. Same goes for the idea of rotation of auditors. The draft rules are silent on this important aspect which has a major impact on this profession. For the growth of the CAs, this ceiling (as well as the norm of mandatory auditor rotation) should exclude OPCs, dormant companies, small companies and also the private (unlisted) companies.

New Company Act, 2013, also speaks about women directors. What is ICAI doing in this regard?

We at ICAI are now creating a panel of women members to act as independent directors in companies. This panel will also work towards promoting flexible working hours for women CAs through a dedicated portal. It will also organise specialised training programmes for women CAs which will help them prepare for the role of women directors in companies.

What are the new projects you plan to bring to ICAI over next one year?

There are many. For now, we have launched an app for iPhone and Android platform. This will give you all the latest on ICAI in real time. We are also going to launch the ICAI TV. We have a tie up with the HRD ministry now. Many more things are in the pipeline on which we will share information in coming months.