Kerala: CA courses may get degree, Post Graduation status

KOCHI: The Union HRD Ministry is in the process of making CA Inter equivalent to BCom and CA Final to MCom. This was informed by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) national president M Devaraja Reddy. "We submitted the proposal in this regard and HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has circulated it in his Ministry and we expect a favourable decision in three-four months," Mr Reddy said here on Monday addressing a press conference convened in connection with the two-day national seminar involving Chartered Accountants on Direct Taxes.

Mr Reddy said that the UGC had failed to act on this following which ICAI approached the HRD Minister. "Several CAs qualifying here are not able to pursue PhD and face several other obstacles in the Middle East countries and US because their qualification is not equivalent to graduation and post-graduation. Pakistan has already made it equivalent because of which CAs from there are at an advantage especially in Middle East countries," he said.

To a query, the president said that ACCA is not a course or qualification comparable to that of CA. "Only those who qualify CA and become members of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) can perform the audit and attestation functions in India," he said. He also said that either a committee set up by the Central Government or the RBI should appoint the statutory auditors of banks instead of the bank chairmen appointing them so as to ensure quality performance of banks, thereby reducing the Non-Performing Assets of the banks.