Convocation Ceremony - 2010
We, Chartered Accountants, for long have been wedded to the concept of ‘substance over form’ and in fact our first Accounting Standard mandates the criteria for selection and application of accounting policies is substance over form. Even though we have to adhere to this concept in our attest function, but in other spheres, in the present dynamic economic environment both substance and form play vital roles. There was a time we used to get certificate of membership through a postman in a thick cylindrical cardboard cover. In tune with the changed times, the Institute also has changed the mode of the issue of certificate in person by the President in a formal Convocation function adorned in convocation attires. This change of giving importance to the form and formality definitely enhances the level of confidence of newly qualified members and makes them feel proud and brings them closer to the Institute. The cherishing moments of the function would be part of their long memory of being part of our fraternity. This momentous event of convocation ceremony for newly qualified members from the States of Karnataka and Kerala was held at Bangalore on 22nd August, which was presided over by Chief Guest CA. Suresh C Senapaty, Executive Director and CFO of Wipro Ltd and the membership certificates were handed over by our beloved President CA Amarjit Chopra, in the august presence of Central Council Members, Regional Council Members of SIRC and Managing Committee members of Bangalore Branch.
For the first time, ICAI along with International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) had organized an Outreach programme for the benefit of our fraternity at Bangalore on 9th August and I am thankful to Accounting Standard Board of ICAI for considering Bangalore as one of the centres apart from other metropolitan cities in India. The programme was inaugurated and addressed by CA T V Mohan Das Pai, Director, Infosys Limited. CA. Prabhakar Kalavacherla, Board member, IASB and Ms. April Pitman, Technical Manager, IASB addressed our members on new exposure draft of IASB – ‘Revenue and Leases’. It is indeed heartening and we all in the fraternity should be proud to note that CA T V Mohan Das Pai, member of our Bangalore Branch is the only Indian trustee of IFRS Foundation and CA Prabhakar Kalavacherla is the only Indian on the Board of IASB. I am happy to inform you that the programme was well attended by members including CFOs of Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd.
Our Branch hosted on 27th & 28th August yet another mega National Conference on International Taxation organised by Committee on International Taxation of ICAI. The Conference had best of the experts in the field of International Taxation across the country; and it was inaugurated by CA Rashmin Sanghvi, a renowned expert on International Taxation from Mumbai. In his inaugural address he spoke on various professional opportunities available for the CAs in the field of International Taxation. Our sincere thanks to the Committee on International Taxation for choosing Bangalore for this mega conference and also to all the Resource Persons for having shared their expertise during their deliberations at the Conference. .
Half yearly event of Camus Placements for the newly qualified Chartered Accountants will be conducted from 15th to 18th September 2010 at Hotel Bangalore International. Bangalore has a very good track record of placements and in Special Campus placements held on June 2010, we witnessed the second highest placements. As precursor event, the Bangalore Branch had organized on 20th and 21st August an Orientation Programme for equipping the participants to face the Campus Interview and it was very beneficial for all the participants.
As we are all aware CA results this time has been received with the mixed bag of response. I am happy to inform you that 1st Rank in PCC was bagged by a student from Bangalore. However as you all would agree that the pass percentage in the examination was still a concern. This concern was addressed by CA Madhukar N Hiregange, Central Council Member and member of Examination Committee of ICAI during his talk to students on 9th August, 2010, which was well received by the Students. You can also advise your students to go through “Summary of Examiners’ comments on the Performance of candidates” which is already hosted on Institute’s website.
As usual the month of September is a busy month for members, and hence programs have been kept at moderate level and some of them are:-
To counter the adage “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, we will be organizing on 4th September, a Badminton Tournament to be played between Officers of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Bangalore and members of our Branch. I once again request all the members to participate in the programmes and make each one of them a grand success as you have been doing in the past.