The Indian government is set to introduce Bills to amend existing laws governing chartered accountants, cost accountants and company secretaries in the current Budget session, a senior government official said. The proposed amendments will allow registration of large size consultancy firms in India.

The amendments will remove the hurdles that come in way for members of ICAI, ICSI and ICWAI to jointly form Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs). These amendments will enable formation of LLPs comprising professionals from different fields. Right now professional bodies are not able to form LLPs because of certain clauses in respective Acts.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/Bill-letting-accounting-pros-form-LLPs-soon/articleshow/5613711.cms

While the SEC approved a statement supporting the adoption of global accounting standards for U.S. companies, the Chairman Mary Schapiro cautioned that, “Incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) into our financial reporting system would involve a significant undertaking. We must carefully consider and deliberate whether such a change is in the best interest of U.S. investors and markets.

“The Commission also voted to approve a Work Plan developed by SEC staff that would gather information to aid the Commission as it evaluates the impact that the use of IFRS by U.S. companies would have on our securities market,” Schapiro said. The Work Plan will be completed in 2011, the target date set by the 2008 Proposed Roadmap.

Schapiro said, however, that no decision had been made about the timing of a possible conversion to IFRS. “We must still determine what this means for U.S. companies and markets; should we incorporate IFRS into our reporting system and, if so, when and how?

Source: http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/cfo/sec-approves-work-plan-assess-us-adoption-global-accounting-standards

Sri T.N. Manoharan

The Government of India named Sri T.N. Manoharan the first accountancy professional from Tamil Nadu to be conferred with the Padma Shri award. Manoharan is based out of Chennai, India and was recently appointed as a board member of the scam-hit Satyam Computer Services and later made as its chairman before the company was taken over by the Mahindra group. He is a distinguished professional and has several acheivements to his credit. Son of T.L. Narayana Chowdhry, a 93-year-old a freedom fighter, Manoharan, 52, is a partner in Manoharan Chowdhry Associates. He is also the past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

Padma Shri is an award given by the Government of India generally to Indian citizens to recognize their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Medicine, Social Service and public life. It stands fourth in the hierarchy of civilian awards after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. On its obverse, the words “Padma”, meaning lotus in Sanskrit and “Shri”, in Devanagari script, appear above and below the lotus flower. The geometrical pattern on either side is in burnished bronze. All embossing is in white gold.

‘Accounting for Investments’ blog congratulates Sri T. N. Manoharan on being conferred with the Padma Shri award.

Wiley CPA Exam Review 2010 Test Bank CD – Complete Set (CD-ROM) that is scheduled to be released during mid February 2010 is a real boon to all aspiring CPAs: Here are the details:

Product Description

The key to CPA Exam success is practice, practice, and more practice!

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*.NET 3.5 Framework and SQL Server 2005 Express are included on the CD.

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1. Insert CD into your CD-ROM drive.
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Product Details

* CD-ROM
* Publisher: Wiley; Cdr edition (February 15, 2010)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0470453486
* ISBN-13: 978-0470453483

The much-anticipated International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is likely to be rolled out only partially in India from April 1, 2011.That’s because a core group on IFRS implementation, set up by the ministry of company affairs and headed by renowned chartered accountant Y H Malegam, is set to recommend that it be made mandatory only for big corporates in the first phase.

Source: DNA India

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and accounting rule-maker Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) have jointly constituted a study group to identify and address direct tax issues that will affect convergence of India’s accounting standards with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).With IFRS convergence due for April 2011 and the government coming up with the new Direct Taxes Code (DTC), the suggestions of the study group finds relevance.

Source: Economic Times

Keen to beef up national security, the government plans to slap new entry route restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI) beyond 49% in eight specified “sensitive” sectors, including airports, seaports, pharma, petroleum refining and gas pipelines. In all these sectors, 100% FDI through the automatic route is permitted now.Once a stricter policy is in place, proposals to expand FDI beyond 49% in these sectors would have to be vetted by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), official sources said.

Source: Indian Express

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has extended the tenure of contracts for stock lending and borrowing (SLB) up to a maximum period of 12 months, as it tries to revive the comatose segment.SLB was introduced in April 2008, starting with a contract tenure of seven days. With hardly any interest from market participants in the product, the regulator increased the tenure to 30 days in November that year. But even that has not helped in attracting investors to the SLB window.

Source: Economic Times

There is a new course on IFRS 9 and you can take the course here: Accounting for Investments

On 12 November 2009, IASB published IFRS 9 Financial Instruments on the classification and measurement of financial assets. The present IAS 39 is proposed to be replaced in three phases as follows by International Accounting Standards Board (IASB):
Phase 1: Classification and measurement. This is presently published as IFRS 9 Financial Instruments on the classification and measurement of financial assets.
Phase 2: Impairment methodology. On 25 June IASB published a Request for Information on the feasibility of an expected loss model for the impairment of financial assets. The exposure draft published in November 2009.
Phase 3: Hedge accounting. IASB is currently conducting outreach with its constituents and intends to issue an exposure draft on hedge accounting in the first quarter of 2010.

On 12 November 2009, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued IFRS 9 Financial Instruments.