By — Shyamal Sinha
There is a need to develop a system which encourages behavioural change on the part of the stakeholders rather than simply investigating and strive to promote transparency through initiatives such as the initiative of an Annual Transparency Report (ATR) for listed companies, stated Dr. Ajay Bhushan Prasad Pandey, IAS, Chairperson, National Financial Reporting Authority at the 5th National Conference on Indian Accounting Standards titled ‘Recent Developments, Evolving Global Trends, Challenges and Way Forward’ organized by apex trade association- ASSOCHAM.
During the keynote address at the event, Dr. Pandey clarified that the process of implementing this ATR system will begin with the top 1000 publicly listed companies, where auditors must make available detailed information regarding their legal, governance and management structures in the public domain to enhance trust. “A lot of companies are compliant with the E (Environment) in the ESG norms but are they equally compliant with the S (social) and G (Governance) norms as well? There is a need to focus on those aspects as well,” Dr Pandey said.
He stated that there is a need to tap technology to change the accounting and auditing side as well citing example of financial inclusion.In the last couple of years, India has seen unprecedented digital transformation, granting all 1.4 billion citizens a digital identity. Usage of the UPI payment system, with 7 billion transactions amounting to 12 lakh crore, further underlines the profound scale of this shift.” he said. He further stated that these reforms have benefitted the banking system and the common people. “We have a total faceless income tax system today where everything is linked. If you have missed adding any income from any forgotten bank account, the system even reminds you of that,” he added.
The Chief Guest, Shri Suresh Prabhu, Former Union Minister stated that societies need to develop systems from the Indian perspective. He added, “Look at the system that we created for our auto industry, it was Bharat Stage 1 and not the Euro 1 standards. However, though we create our own standards, we need to elevate to a level which is accepted globally and we need to be fully aware of what standards are accepted globally,” he said.
Dr. Ashok Haldia, Chairman, ASSOCHAM Task Force on Accounting Standards stated that the accounting standards are continuously evolving in a dynamic context and there is always an increasing in societal expectations from the auditors .It is the role of the auditors , regulators and other stakeholders need to respond to the same by staying attuned to the challenges,” he said.
Mr Vishesh C Chandiok, CEO, Grand Thornton Bharat stated that Technology is going to replace whatever the auditors are doing today. Unless we do things that add value to the process, the role of the auditors would be diminished,” he said.
He further added that there is a need to allow multidisciplinary partnership which is allowed in almost all the other countries.
Mr. Abhishek Rara, Charted Accountant stated that in a more volatile, complex and ambiguous world, trust is the new currency. “Highly valued however in short supply. In the future trust will dominate board and C-agendas” he added. Trust services are to be provided for the areas central to business, the market and society like -climate, data , securitysk.
Mr. V Balaji, Managing Partner, True and Fair Professionals Network stated that Ind AS or the Standards on Auditing specify the minimum requirements. Makers of financial statements and auditors should not just focus on meeting the minimum requirements but should enhance their disclosures to make it relevant to the stakeholders.
Mr. Vijay Sachdeva, Co-Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council for Corporate Affairs, Company Law, and Corporate Governance explained that accounting standards are needed for confidence building measures of the investor community. “There is also a need to develop accounting standards to look at the climate risk and sustainability factors,” he added.
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