Accounting standards for banking, insurance sectors soon: MCA secretary

The Centre is working on coming up with accounting standards for the banking and insurance sectors, Corporate Affairs Secretary Manoj Govil said on Monday.

At an event organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on its 75th foundation day in New Delhi, Govil said that along with the body, the Centre is also working for the aggregation of accounting and auditing firms in the country to make them global players.

"We are also working towards bringing new accounting standards," he said.

"We have asked big companies to follow IFRS standards... but no such thing for the insurance sector yet. We have completed our research and will come up with standards for the insurance sector," he added.

Govil said that discussions are going on with the Reserve Bank of India around accounting standards for the banking industry and they may come out soon.

He also said that the ministry is working on having accounting standards for the Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs). "We have received recommendations from ICAI and NFRA on that and we are working on that," he added.

Among other plans, Govil said the ministry will review the rules under the companies and LLP laws apart from working on reducing the time taken for the voluntary closure of companies.

Currently, the average time taken for the voluntary closure of companies is three months. It was around two years earlier, he said.

On the Indian "Big Four" firms, Govil said that the MCA and ICAI are working together to bring in an environment where "Indian accounting and auditing firms emerge as global leaders."

ICAI President Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal said a plan for the aggregation of CA firms will be prepared in the next few months.

"ICAI is also considering providing continuous professional education to maintain global standards," Govil said. Last month, ICAI held discussions with Govil on the "Aggregation of CA Firms" and the roadmap to create big Indian auditing firms.