CAs would be punished, if found guilty: ICAI

New Delhi, Jan 8: Any member of body found guilty in the Satyam financial wrong doings would be severely punished and the auditors could even be barred from practising further in the lifetime, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the apex body of Chartered Accountants, said on Thursday, Jan 8

"We have written to disciplinary committee of ICAI. If found guilty, CAs involved in Satyam Computer's auditing could be banned for lifetime," Institute's President Ved Jain told.

Jain said before the body takes any action against the members involved in the "fraud", it needs to collect all facts and information..."so we are looking into that and we will start our proceedings," he added.

ICAI has taken action against 122 CAs in various auditing irregularities, so far, he said.
As many as 41 cases were big, where CAs were debarred from practising for five years, Jain said. However, Jain said the institute cannot take action against PriceWaterHouseCoopers, auditors of Satyam Computer, but only against individual CAs.

"We will ensure that to any person who has not worked according to our standards and our expectations, severe punishment be given," he said. In fact, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs announced that role of directors and auditors at Satyam will be scanned by ICAI and the apex body of Company Secretaries -- ICSI.

He also pointed out that the body has not yet asked for the report from the company and the report will come to them eventually. The company's balance sheet, the role of auditors and accountants for the company have come under the scanner, after Satyam's ex-CEO Ramalinga Raju admitted Rs 7,000 crore misdealing.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)