LS passes bill to amend Chartered Accountants Act, Company Secretaries Act
Mar 30, 2022
New Delhi [India], March 30 : Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2021 that seeks to provide a mechanism for dealing with the cases of misconduct in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
The Bill seeks to amend the existing Chartered Accountants Act (ICAI), 1949, the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959 and the Company Secretaries Act 1980.
Replying to a discussion on the Bill, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government has no proposal or intention to infringe upon the autonomy of the three institutions - the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICWA) and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).
The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2021 is also aimed at enhancing "accountability and transparency" by providing for audit of accounts of the institutes by a firm of chartered accountants to be appointed annually by the Council from the panel of auditors maintained by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
