Unique Code Numbers to CAs to check fraudulent practices

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) will introduce Unique Code Numbers (UCD) from next month for Chartered Accountants (CAs) to help them check increasing incidents of fraudulent practices, including forged attestations, ICAI President Amarjit Chopra said today.

Once introduced, ICAI would ask banks to insist on UCD, as people file different balance sheets for various purposes without the knowledge or approval of CAs, he told reporters here.

The institute is being assisted by the software giant Infosys in this endeavour, he said.

He said ICAI, as part of 'Project Parivarthan' has initiated several operational process to meet global benchmarks.

One of these was virtual classrooms for coaching students, which would commence in February in 25 centres and be extended to 250 centres in the next six months, Chopra said.

ICAI is geared to meet the deadline of convergence of the Indian Accounting Standards with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), effective from April 2011, in select entities as per the government roadmap, he said.

To synergise the training process, ICAI has launched various programs with a view to familiarise the professions with IFRS and equip them with essential knowledge of the same.

Special workshops have been organised with bodies like Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and Standing Conference of Public Enterpriss on managing transition to IFRS that poses a great challenge to makers and users of financial statements and to the reporting authorities -- the practical implication of IFRS, Chopra said.