CA Institute will by January 2025 issue international networking guidelines to enable domestic firms to spread their footprints abroad, its President Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal has said.

“Our international networking guidelines are going to be ready by January 2025 or latest by end of this fiscal. This will be a huge step as every member can look to grow their footprint outside India. All members and firms will benefit and it is not that only large firms or small CA firms will benefit,” Agarwal said when asked if the proposed guidelines would end up benefiting only large CA firms. 

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the largest accounting body in the world, will also review the advertising regulations for its members to relax them in accordance with the current economic milieu and the requirements of a globalised business environment, Agarwal added.

Currently, the ICAI does not have any specific international networking guidelines. This framing of international networking guidelines is part of the terms of reference of ICAI committee on ‘Aggregation of CA’ firms. 

The review of advertising regulations is also part of the work agenda of the Committee on Aggregation of firms.

Right now, the ICAI advertising regulation stipulates that Indian firms can advertise in digital, print, and electronic media as a write-up, which cannot be in a font size above 14. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in July 2017, during his address at the Chartered Accountants Day event, called for creating four big Indian accounting firms that are counted among the world’s Big-8.

There are about 96,000 CA firms in India, with about 1.6 lakh practising chartered accountants. 

Of these, about 75,000 firms are proprietorships. Most firms are small and even seven years after Prime Minister’s exhortation, not much has been achieved on this front, audit profession observers noted. 

Currently, ICAI has 4.25 lakh members and 9.5 lakh students.