Corporate Affairs Ministry asks ICAI to submit report on bitcoin auditing

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has been asked by the ministry of corporate affairs to submit a report on auditing of Bitcoins. ICAI will submit its report by 31st March 2018. 

"The study will look into how Bitcoin disclosures can be made in the financial statement," said Debashis Mitra, council member, ICAI, at a seminar on corporate governance, analysing Uday Kotak Committee recommendations and recent changes in Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017, organised by the CII. 

  

The disclosure format will not only be meant for all Bitcoin transactions made this financial year but also set standard for future such transactions. Also, one of the motives behind the study was to insulate auditors of any legal discrepancies arising out of such transactions. 

At present, there is no available data on the quantum of Bitcoin transactions by Indian companies, something which the ICAI study will delve into. 

Recently, Union finance minister had said that virtual currencies, including bitcoins, are not currencies. “VCs are not currencies. These are also being described as ‘coins’. There is, however, no physical attribute to these coins. Therefore, VCs are neither currencies nor coins,” the finance ministry had recently said in a statement.