The CA Institute will organise from January 31-February 2 the ‘World Forum of Accountants’ (WOFA), bringing together over 10,000 chartered accountants from around the world to delve deep into the future of accounting and critical intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and environmental sustainability, its President Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal said on Monday.

Heads of five major global accounting bodies from —Australia, Canada, England & Wales, Singapore and IFAC—are also going to address the WOFA to be held in the capital. 

The WOFA will explore AI’s transformative potential to address global environmental challenges, such as climate change, pollution and resource security, Agarwal said.

By promoting collaboration between governments, businesses and academia, WOFA aims to accelerate the development and adoption of AI solutions that contribute to a sustainable future, he noted.

This is yet another initiative of ICAI towards making India a global accounting and auditing hub, Agarwal added. 

Two years back (in November 2022), ICAI had hosted the World Congress of Accountants (WCOA) in Mumbai.  This was organised by International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), but now discontinued it from being conducted in any country.

“WCOA in Mumbai was so successful that IFAC felt that only India was getting advantage of the conference and it (IFAC) was not getting anything out of it. So IFAC has discontinued it. Now we as Central Council have taken a call that if India has to take leadership role in accounting, we should have our programme that can be taken across the world. We can organise the programme and other countries can host it. The Council has therefore decided to roll out World Forum of Accountants”, Agarwal said. 

1st Residential Advanced Flagship Programme

Meanwhile, Agarwal on Monday announced that ICAI’s newly set up Centre of Excellence at Hyderabad will on January 7 roll out the first ever residential advanced flagship programme. 

This five day training program —‘Empowering Trusted Advisors —Unlocking the Potential of Family Enterprises’ —is designed to provide CAs with in-depth knowledge and actionable frameworks to understand, advise and guide family businesses through unique challenges and opportunities. 

The programme will help family owned businesses to become growth oriented as an independent concern, he added.

Nupur Pavan Bang, Director cum Dean, ICAI’s Centre of Excellence, Hyderabad, said that the Centre would provide research base and policy oriented insights to stakeholders. “We are looking at capacity building and equip chartered accountants to become more skilled and help government in implementing its various policies,” she said. 

The CoE at Hyderabad will look at areas like good governance practices, issues of sustainability and ESG reporting; financial inclusion and literacy; SMEs; Start-ups; Gig economy and digital transformation. “We will also look to build collaboration with international institutions”, Bang added.

ICAI plans to set up 11 centres of excellence in next three years including the two already set up at Hyderabad and Jaipur. The third one will come up at  Kolkata before the end of this fiscal.

Byju’s Case 

ICAI President Agarwal said that the disciplinary proceeding in the Byju’s case is now before the Disciplinary Committee (DC) and the “hearing is going on”.

The disciplinary directorate has forwarded its prima facie opinion on the matter to the DC. “The Disciplinary Committee can accept or reject the prima facie opinion of the Directorate. The DC is looking into it”, Agarwal said. 

The Financial Reporting Review Board , a non-standing committee of CA Institute’s central council, had in 2023 initiated a review of Byju’s financial statements for the financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21.