WIRC of ICAI organises seminar on the Audit of Insurance companies and opportunities for CAs
With IRDA easing regulations, the Insurance industry is expected to expand by about four times in the next five years, throwing huge employment opportunities to CAs in areas including Audit, Risk, Finance, and Actuarial Science, said experts.
Mumbai : The Western India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (WIRC of ICAI) conducted a seminar on the Audit of the Insurance companies and opportunities for Chartered Accountants. The seminar was organized on Saturday April 15, 2023 in Mumbai, witnessed participation from more than 200 Chartered Accountants (physically and virtually).
Addressing the audience, CA. Arpit Kabra, Chairman of WIRC of ICAI said, “Insurance sector has opened immense practice and service potential for CAs. ICAI will ensure the knowledge of our members are upgraded with the right programmes, which will put them always ahead on the knowledge curve, giving a cutting edge to their consulting skills.” CA. Kabra said that in line with ICAI’s policy, going forward, WIRC will give more focus on physical meetings with an emphasis on generating networking opportunities for the participating members.
In his keynote address, CA. Rajive Kumaraswami, CEO, Magma HDI General Insurance Company, said today with the level of digitisation that has touched the insurance sector, an explosion of opportunities is awaiting the Chartered Accountants.
“We have been blessed with a new IRDA Chairman, who is focussed on developing the sector and not just regulating it. His vision is Insurance for all by 2047 – which means every Indian should have health, home, term and personal accident insurance by then. The regulator is easing regulations in the areas of compliance, Registration of companies, marketing & distribution and also capital raising,” said CA. Kumaraswami.
“This is leading to more capitals chasing the sector. This is in turn expected to expand the sector to Rs 10 lakh crore in the next 5 years from today’s Rs. 2.6 lakh crore. Last year, the sector grew by 16.5%. The sector is expected to attract a capital of Rs 2 lakh crore and an investment of Rs 10-12 lakh crore, in the next five years,” said CA. Kumaraswami.
According to him, the growth will result in a huge growth opportunity for Chartered Accountants in areas relating to Risk, Finance, Internal Audit, and Actuarial science operations. CAs, with their understanding of balance sheet, finance and Risks are the best positioned to grab share of the opportunities.
CA. Jayesh Parmar shared an overview of Audits in the insurance sector. “Auditors require a comprehensive understanding of the insurance regulatory framework, which is changing and consistently evolving nowadays. They also need to have a proper understanding of the business operations and internal controls, without which they won’t be able to audit the entities. So, time needs to be invested towards understanding these parameters, which is a must to do proper audit work”
CA. Sunder Krishnan, Chief Risk Officer, Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, shared knowledge on the opportunities for CAs in Risk Management & Internal Audit. According to him aspiring CAs could tap a lot of national and international opportunities in the area of Integrated Risk Management. “A key trend that has been observed is that a lot of Chartered Accountants are becoming Actuaries nowadays, which was not there earlier. A CA with his better understanding of Risks and finance is best positioned to become Actuaries. ICAI should partner with the Institute of Actuaries to have an actuarial course dedicated for the CAs.”
CA. Kartikey Kandoi shared insights on the practical aspects of Actuarial Valuations (AS15, Ind AS19 and insights on ESOP Accounting.
CA. Vikas Gupta spoke on critical aspects of internal finance control in insurance companies.
There was a panel discussion on expectations and opportunities in the Insurance sector.
CA. Vitesh Gandhi was the moderator and panelists consisted of CA. Hemant Jain, CA. Shailendra Kothavale and CA. Nilesh Mijari.