New Delhi: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has always stood by the students and strived to address their concerns from time to time. Considering the dynamic global scenario, ICAI has taken proactive and exemplary initiatives to facilitate best resources, catering to learning needs of its students, be it regarding publications, online lectures, webcasts or mentoring sessions.
ICAI, being the largest accounting education body in the world, is compliant with the principles enlisted in the International Education Standards issued by the IAESB of International Federation of Accountants. Further, the New Scheme of Education and Training which was launched last year, is also in line with the International Education Standards. Some of the latest initiatives being undertaken by ICAI towards reforms in the CA Course and Examination System are mentioned below:
Focusing on emerging Areas
Today, the world is focusing on specialization. The new age successful professionals are the ones who are delivering qualitative services in one area rather than knowing little in every area. To this effect, Electives in the emerging areas of Risk Management, International Taxation, Financial and Capital Markets, Global Financial Reporting Standards, have been introduced in New CA course which will prepare the coming generation of CAs as experts, specializing in their chosen respective areas.
Moving towards objective Examination and Evaluation
Assessment of electives is based on case studies to sharpen application, analytical and comprehension skills. In Electives, 40% MCQ based questions have been introduced to reduce subjectivity, steering the system towards objective examination and evaluation. Further, Electives are open book exams and from November 2018 exams, students have been allowed to bring their own study material for reference during the exam, which is itself a big reform.
Revised Study Material
Updating the study material is a continuous process and this entails meticulous quality review of the syllabus and contents by subject experts. ICAI conducts this review exercise periodically and this year, syllabus is again being reviewed and rationalized. The latest editions of rationalized and revised study material will be released soon in January, 2019.
Robust Examination System
There is misconception amongst stakeholders about the results which are declared by the ICAI that hardly 3-4% of the examinees only pass such exams. In this context, it is pertinent to mention that ICAI has a robust examination system with three tier system of examination for examiners and paper setters. The system has an in-built performance monitoring mechanism preceded by requisite extensive training.
CA. Naveen N. D. Gupta, President, ICAI said “Reforms are a continuous process and ICAI is in seize of problems and is continuously working towards resolving issues of the students. The students & CA fraternity is working together for a common objective i.e. to enhance the glory and dignity of the Institute and CA profession. He added “As a team, we must work in collaboration to improve systems and practices.”
