India's big four audit firms are PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young, while ICAI is the apex regulator of the profession of chartered accountants.
rediffGURUS Hardik Parikh, Tejas Chokshi, Mihir Tanna and Sanjeev Govila answer your tax related queries.
'He wants our finance minister to do something to solve the problems of the poor and the farmers who commit suicides because of the heavy debt burden.'
Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com reports on the chaos facing taxpayers with the income tax department making changes to ITR 2 and 3 forms just before tax-filing deadline.
The general elections could take a toll on the bottom lines of a host of Indian companies that have accessed overseas debt.
Nearly 800 employees started the strike on February 3 alleging gross mismanagement of funds by the top management and demanded a thorough audit of ICAI by comptroller and auditor general.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
Agra has long been known for the Taj Mahal, but it is also a manufacturing hub filled with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that make everything from electronic components to metal products, from paints and chemicals to footwear. And five years after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the MSMEs here complain that while the indirect tax regime has been transformative, cutting out the need to file multiple taxes, its biggest drawback has been the delay in credit refunds. Whoever you speak to - MSME owners, tax lawyers, or industry bodies like the National Chambers of Industries and Commerce (NCIC), Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber (AFMEC) and Agra Shoe Manufacturers Association (ASMA) - they all emphasise that the GST continues to face some key challenges.
"The two sides note that the relationship between Russia and China has progressed to a more advanced interstate cooperation compared to the military-political unions of the Cold War era as it is not bloc or confrontational in nature, nor does it target any third countries," Russia's new agency Tass quoted the document as saying.
As the economy surges ahead, these financial watchdogs will be increasingly in demand.
While it is not clear whether the new form will be applicable from this year, some chartered accountants say that things can go both ways. The new deadline for filing ITR is November 30.
The decision to seek tie-up details from CA firms, especially those associated with the Big 4 -- PWC, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte -- follows a report by an Institute of Chartered Accountants of India committee on the multi-crore Satyam scam.
More than 60 people from Gujarat on board the Nicaragua-bound plane, which was sent back from France over suspected human trafficking, had agreed to pay Rs 60 lakh to Rs 80 lakh to immigration agents, who promised to cross into the US illegally after reaching the Latin American country, officials said.
A few months ago, the company affairs ministry had approved a single additional attempt instead of the five recommended by the ICAI.
We invited readers to share stories of how they met their spouses and interesting anecdotes about their wedding day. Here's Shraddha Kabra's account of how she wooed her husband, Ajay
On March 30, the ICAI asked all companies to disclose and/or provide for all losses on derivative contracts, except for forward contracts where a company needed to comply with accounting standard AS11. So far, Indian companies were not required to declare their gains or losses on derivatives; the ICAI's new accounting standard AS30 required them to reveal these gains or losses from April 1, 2011, a deadline it advanced by three years.
The accountants body was reacting to reports about a tax assessment order by the I-T department, which found violations by ICAI such as failure to get their accounts signed by auditors, providing loans to partners without guarantee and interest and hiding income from coaching business. However, the institute pointed out that a view taken by a particular officer in the department in a specific year is not final and said that it is sure to be eligible for exemption.
"I told my office to take permission of the court because I want director, discipline, to begin proceedings against them (S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri).
Suspended Jharkhand IAS officer Pooja Singhal was paid "commission" by subordinate staff from MGNREGA funds of Khunti district which she and her husband subsequently utilised for acquiring various properties, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed in a statement on Wednesday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday conducted searches at the premises of Sunak Bali, who was an aide of Satya Pal Malik when he was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir, and 11 other locations in Delhi and Rajasthan in the alleged insurance scam case, officials said.
Maersk is looking for financial and accounting professionals. They will be based based in the African continent and in West and Central Asia.
Reach Tax will operate from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Calcutta by November 2010.
The chartered accountants regulator ICAI on Thursday said KMPG cannot audit Satyam's books, but the global auditor said it does not require to register with the regulator to restate the IT company's accounts.
The chartered accountants body ICAI on Tuesday constituted a six-member special committee to look into the auditing of crisis-hit Satyam Computer, whose disgraced founder chairman Ramalinga Raju has confessed to fudging accounts.
Auditors seem to have developed a heightened sense of risk and are not content to tick the boxes and sign the papers.
TAPAI offers postgraduate degree in management for 2008-2010.
The companies have 90 days to deposit the money with Sebi, which has been tasked by the Supreme Court to return the money to the investors.
This follows a recommendation by the Income Tax department after the Satyam accounting fraud issue broke in January following founder Ramalinga Raju's confession. I-T officials said since the returns were e-filed, there was no provision to check whether or not the tax audit reports were certified by the chartered accountant.
First-quarter results of several big companies such as Reliance Industries, Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel and Jet Airways would have been a lot worse had they followed the Accounting Standards 11 rules prescribed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has declared the dates for its examinations.
What Piyush Goyal had to say on the Union Budget.
Says it will have implications for auditing work. According to the proposal, commercial banks need not classify a non-serviced loan under NPAs if the borrower has submitted an application for restructuring the package before March 31, 2009.
ICAI starts proceedings against software firm's CFO and head of audit cell.
The deadline for filing income tax returns is (July 31) fast approaching. While many may be filing returns through their chartered accountant, filing e-returns (electronic returns) is the fastest and more convenient.
Company balance sheets could soon acquire a new look, with the government asking ICAI to suggest ways to strengthen reporting norms following Satyam Computer Services scandal 7. ICAI sources said the mandate from the government was to ensure that company managements did not use notes to accounts as a cover-up for misdemeanours. The special group will submit its recommendations over the next few weeks.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your personal income tax queries.
As the Indian economy passes through one of its worst times, well known chartered accountant and Convenor of the Swadeshi Jaagran Manch Swaminathan Gurumurthy, in an exclusive interview with Shobha Warrier explains what ails the Indian economy, and the remedy to fix it.
The government on Saturday asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to ensure that accounting professionals strictly adhere to stipulated standards in order to avoid Enron-like cases in India.
The talk of governance reforms at public-sector banks seems to remain on paper, as a majority of them continue to be working with just a handful board members. Half of the board seat at these banks have been vacant. Ten of the 12 public-sector banks, even large ones like Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India - all except State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda - don't even have a chairman. In 2014, while splitting the post of chairman & managing director (CMD), the government had decided to appoint non-executive chairmen at these banks. SBI, which has an executive chairman and four managing directors, was an exception.
