Bill amending Limited Liability Act due in Parliament soon

Panaji, May 26 (UNI) The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has submitted to the government a draft bill for amending the Limited Liability Act which was likely to be introduced in Parliament soon, its vice president Sunil H Talati said today.

The proposed amendment, prepared by a special committee of ICAI headed by Mr Talati, provides for forging partnerships among cost accountants, company secretaries, lawyers and allied professionals to offer composite services to corporate entities.

Mr Talati, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a two-day regional conference of ICAI's West India Regional Council (WIRC), said another committee had prepared the draft for a uniform accounting system for all local self-governments in the country, which is ready for public debate and response before approval by the ICAI Council and submission to the Centre.

He further said the Institute has also decided to spend at least Rs 100 crore during the next 8-10 years for opening eleven Centres of Excellence, the first in Hyderabad next year for which land had already been acquired.

The Mumbai and Delhi centres would be opened in the year 2008.

These centres would held update ICAI members with the latest knowledge, experience, technology and skills, including in communication, drafting and presentation of reports on par with the best in the business administration institutions, Mr Talati said.

These and other efforts through such modern packages would meet the demand of quality cost accountants, who could come out of their ''proprietorship'' mindset to forge partnerships with related professionals, to meet the galloping demand of the corporate bodies including banks and mutual fund organisations.

''The demand for qualified cost accountants in India is very high with most of the corporates switching over to computerised operations, particularly banks which instead of opening more branches are closing the existing ones to start ATM terminals to reduce expenditure world over,'' he said.

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