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1st JULY 1949 HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS OF INDIA
The Companies Act, 1913 passed in pre-independent India prescribed the appointment of a formal Auditor with prescribed qualifications to audit such records. In order to act as an auditor a person had to acquire a restricted certificate from the local government upon such conditions as may be prescribed. The holder of a restricted certificate was allowed to practice only within the province of issue and in the language specified in the restricted certificate. In 1918 a course called Government Diploma in Accountancy was launched in Bombay (now known as Mumbai). On passing this diploma and completion of three years of articled training under an approved accountant, a person was held eligible for grant of an unrestricted certificate. This certificate entitled the holder to practice as an auditor throughout India. Later on the issue of restricted certificates was discontinued in the year 1920.
In the year 1930 it was decided that the Government of India should maintain a register called the Register of Accountants. Any person whose name was entered in such register was called a Registered Accountant. Later on a board called the Indian Accountancy Board was established to advise the Governor General of India on accountancy and the qualifications for auditors. However it was felt that the accountancy profession was largely unregulated, and this caused lots of confusion as regards the qualifications of auditors. Hence in the year 1948, just after independence in 1947, an expert committee was created to look into the matter. This expert committee recommended that a separate autonomous association of accountants should be formed to regulate the profession. The Government of India accepted the recommendation and passed the Chartered Accountants Act in 1949 even before India became a republic. Under section 3 of the said Act, ICAI is established as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal.
ICAI's first president was CA. G. P. Kapadia (1949 to 1952)
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a national professional accounting body of India. It was established on 1 July 1949 as a body corporate under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 enacted by the Constituent Assembly of India (acting as the provisional Parliament of India) to regulate the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India. ICAI is the second largest professional accounting body in the world in terms of membership second only to American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
ICAI is the only licensing cum regulating body of the financial audit and accountancy profession in India. ICAI is solely responsible for setting the auditing and assurance standards to be followed in the audit of financial statements in India. It also issues other technical standards like Standards on Internal Audit (SIA), Corporate Affairs Standards (CAS) etc. to be followed by practising Chartered Accountants. It works closely with the Government of India, Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India in formulating and enforcing such standards.
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