WIRC of ICAI hosts two-day National Conference on Company Law in Mumbai

 Mumbai :The Western India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (WIRC of ICAI) on April 21 & 22 hosted a National Conference on Company Law in Mumbai. The physical and virtual conference was attended by more than 200 Chartered Accountants. Expert speakers who spoke on the two days echoed on the need for adequate strengthening of compliance standards in areas around Schedule III, Internal Audit, Fraud Risks, Related Party Transactions (RPT) and Company’s Auditor Report Order (CARO), a format for the issue of audit reports in case of statutory audits of companies.

1. Arpit Kabra, Chairman of WIRC of ICAIshared his opinion that regular seminars such as this were much needed for the Chartered Accountants to learn and adopt best practices, especially when the regulatory scrutiny is at its peak today.
2. Sandeep Shahspoke on ‘Schedule III and relevant updates.’ According to CA. Shah there are still inconsistencies in the way the Chartered Accountants comply with the rules of Schedule III of the Companies Act for preparing the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statements, which needs to be corrected to achieve high standards of professional excellence.
3. Shashank Karnaddiscussed on the topic ‘Fraud Risks – Red Flags in Audits of Companies.’ CA. Karnad, with the help of various case studies, explained the kind of fraud that takes place in companies. On the basis of a study, he explained the profile of fraudsters – some of the key traits include – a majority of them will be in the age category between 36 and 55; 79% of them will be male; 65% of them will be employed in the company hit by fraud; mostly will be holding executive positions; autocratic to their team but very friendly to the external auditors.
4. Mukundan K.V.discussed on the topic -What is the Reasonable Assurance in Internal Audit.’ He said there is a need for the statutory auditor in a company to invest more time on Internal Audit, which will strengthen a company’s governance standards and thus reduce the strict scrutiny of the regulatory authorities in the form of notices or arrests. According to him only the top 10 or 20 companies do optimum professional Internal Audit and much is expected from the companies down the line. He also urged the CAs to follow a principle-based approach, which is an approach based on ethics in their audit approach, over a Rule based one.

CA Murtuza Kachwala observed that there is a need to identify how much Internal Audit is optimum for companies based on their sizes.

CA Raj Samudrala spoke on the topic ‘Increase in the Responsibility and Liability of Board members.’

1. Vikas Kasat & Mr. Subramanian N.spoke on the topic ‘Audit Trail – New changes and Implementation.’
2. Himanshu Kishnadwalaspoke on the ‘Related Party Transactions under the Companies Act vis-à-vis AS 18/IND AS 24 and other Acts.’

A panel discussion was organised on the expectation of Internal Auditor- An Independent Directors perspective. The panel was moderated by CA. Karishma Mavani and the speakers consisted of CA. MM Chitale, Past President ICAI CA. Atul Bheda , Past Chairman WIRC and CA. Sandeep Jhanwar.

1. Hemal Shahspoke on the updates and expectations in CARO.
2. Arpit Kabraalso spoke on the innovation being adopted at the WIRC of ICAI such as the UPI adoption, AI tool used to share conference photos. CA. Kabra also highlighted about a live help desk by the Corporate Laws and Corporate Governance Committee (CLCGC) of ICAI, where members can get their issues resolved.

The conference was organised by CLCGC and hosted by WIRC of ICAI. CLCGC’s CA. Sripriya Kumar was the Conference Chairperson and CA. Durgesh Kumar Kabra, the Vice-Chairman. CA. Arpit Kabra, Chairman, WIRC of ICAI was the conference director.