The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the second largest Accounting Body of the world is participating in the World Congress of Accountants (WCOA) being held from November 10-13, 2014 at Rome.

WCOA is being held under the auspices of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the worldwide organization for the accountancy profession. This 19th World Congress of Accountants is a wonderful opportunity for the CA profession to show its presence globally. With almost 4,000 professionals from more than 100 countries, this gathering serves as an ideal demonstration of the global nature and interconnectedness of CA profession.

The Congress is a planetary event for the accounting profession, taking place every four years and involving professionals from all over the world, who will meet for four days and discuss the global future of the accounting profession. The theme chosen for the Congress “2020 VISION: Learning from the past - Building the future” perfectly summarizes the objective that the speakers - more than 200 from all over the world - will try to accomplish during the Congress: highlighting the status of the profession, but above all, what the future might bring and what we could achieve, as a profession, in the global society in which we live.

CA. K. Raghu, President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has been invited to address on “Facilitating credit in the SME marketplace” in Indian perspective on November 13, 2014. He will also participate in the IFAC and CAPA Board Meetings to be held in Rome.

Raghu said “The Congress is the foremost international event for the accountancy profession, attracting the leadership of the profession, including individuals in public accounting firms, academia, global and local enterprises, and professional institutes, as well as thousands of accountants, regulators, standard setters and others focused on the development of a high quality global accountancy profession. This is an extraordinary opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with colleagues from all over the world on the crucial issues affecting CA profession”.

He further added that “The Institute has been focussed in its endeavour to develop the profession. To take forward the illustrious journey of excellence flagged by the founding fathers of the nation to the next level of professional excellence, many new initiatives were taken during the year which aims at the potent and path-breaking pursuit of new professional paradigms.”

ICAI initiatives related to the Empowerment of Women Members and better infrastructural support to students through nationwide Reading Rooms are widely appreciated and also shortlisted for being showcased in the WCOA 2014 Project Gallery.

ICAI launched a 'Flexi Working Portal for Women Members' to provide the women members a medium through which they can explore suitable opportunities which provide part time jobs, jobs with flexi hours or jobs with work from home option. Apart from this many other initiatives were taken by the Institute for developing the competencies of the Women Members for undertaking roles in the board room.

As regards the reading rooms, ICAI network is now expanded to 98 Reading Rooms at various locations across the nation. This facility provides a conducive reading environment to students who do not have facility to study at home. This initiative also provides an opportunity to students coming from remote areas to study in metros and bigger cities.