The Jayant Gokhale committee set up by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is unlikely to take on the Big Four global audit firms or raise any allegations against them in its recommendations to the central council of the ICAI.
Instead, it will suggest measures for putting Indian chartered accountancy firms on a strong footing by enabling them to compete with the multinational consulting firms globally.
The committee was set up to study the impact of corporate relationships and affiliations in the accounting profession and how a level-playing field could be created for domestic firms.
Besides, it also discussed the issues raised by a white paper on multinational accounting firms operating in India prepared by the S Gurmurthy-led CA Action Committee and released by Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi last month.
According to ICAI sources, the seven-member committee, which met last on August 11, will meet again early next month to finalise its recommendations.
While some members in the committee were pressing for putting in place restrictions on the Big Four in India, the sources said the focus instead would be on empowering domestic firms.
This could be done by taking a liberal stance for Indian firms in areas where the Big Four have significant market share.
To address this problem, the sources said, the committee might recommend relaxations for Indian chartered accountants and firms while quoting, making presentations, soliciting business and advertising.
At present, the ICAI Act does not allow CA firms to advertise and solicit business. In areas of consulting, technical services, etc, Indian CA firms should be allowed to showcase their services, just like the MNC firms do, the sources added.
The sources said that there was a suggestion by some members that the Big Four be asked to change their name in India for undertaking consulting or non-audit businesses.
The rationale was that the Big Four globally were audit firms and they should not leverage this equity to solicit consulting business.
However, it was not certain if this would be part of the final recommendations, they added.
