Chennai
With an aim to bring the qualification of Indian CAs in line with the global requirements, the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) has officially commenced restructuring the CA curriculum.
The major changes that are proposed include change in communication skill & English language and replacing the infotech theory papers with their practical counterpart. The ICAI has also gone ahead and invited proposals regarding the new changes from all the stakeholders. The last date to send the comments is 31st March 2015.
The proposed changes are inclusion of 'General English and Business Communication' at the entrance level and bringing in a couple of IT training courses, in place of theoretical IT papers.
ICAI's president, Manoj Fadnis, said that "Keeping in mind the procedures involved for approval of the scheme, we expect to launch the new scheme for students by end of 2016," According to him, the change is brought about only once in ten years and the last change took place in the year 2006.
Once the institute finalizes the changes, the same would be sent across to the Government who would take the final call. Afterwards, a new scheme for the upcoming students and a transition scheme (for the current students) would be introduced.
When asked about the changes, ICAI said that the proposed amendments such as business communication skills and English language are in line with the current dynamic requirements of the market. The decision to introduce practical training was also introduced on the same lines. This would better compliment the strong present IT infrastructure.
The ICAI also plans to introduce two new papers, viz. 'International taxation' paper for 40 marks and 'Financial Services and Capital Market' paper for 100 marks. These would be inducted at the final level of the CA examination.
A number of practicing CAs have welcomed this decision with open arms. According to Pattabhi Ram, a professional CA, "The core course and elective courses structure that are in place in B-schools should be looked at,". He says that these specializations must have been introduced a lot earlier by the institute.
The institute's President gave an assurance to the students, saying that the changes would only come into force at the 2016 examinations. A number of students fear that these changes would come into effect immediately and would hurt their preparations majorly. He said that "The institute will also come out with a detailed transition scheme for those in existing curriculum, while implementing the new course structure,"
As of now, more than 2.35 practicing CAs come under the ambit of ICAI. Apart from them, over 8.5 lakh students are currently undertaking the CA course.