Indian CAs can practise in Australia

It would now be easy for Indian chartered accountants (CAs) to practise in Australia and those from Down Under to practise in India.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the body that regulates the profession of chartered accountancy (CAs) in the country, and CPA Australia have inked a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) that would recognise the qualification and give memberships to the eligible CAs through a bridging mechanism (by appearing for one or more papers).

According to the MRA, ICAI members who are graduates will be eligible for the CPA Australia membership after clearing the Business Strategy and Leadership paper.

On the other hand, CPA Australia members will be eligible for the ICAI membership after clearing four papers — Corporate Laws, Taxation, Advanced Auditing, Professional Ethics and Financial Reporting, if they have not already passed them as a part of the CPA Australia programme.

The agreement will come into effect on April 1, 2009.

“Indian CAs will now be able to practise in Australia, subject to fulfillment of certain locally applicable rules and regulations,” said Ved Jain, president of ICAI. There are about 145,000 members registered with ICAI as on April 1, 2008, while CPA Australia has around 122,000 members.

ICAI plans to have similar agreements with Canada, Scotland and Ireland. It has already entered into an MRA with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) about two months ago.

The agreement provides for mutual recognition and examination arrangements for the members of the two largest institutes of the world.

Under this agreement, ICAI members with two years of post qualification experience will be eligible for the ICAEW membership on passing one paper of the UK accounting body, while CAs with less than two years of experience will be required to pass three papers. However, ICAEW members trained in public practice will be eligible for the ICAI membership subject to passing four papers of ICAI.