Centres of Excellence to give CAs extra edge

GOA: Indian Charted Accountants are looking for an image makeover — they no longer want to do just accounting but play a more significant role in company dealings; similar to what an MBA does.

And for this, the Institute of Charted Accountants of India (ICAI) is investing Rs 100 crore in setting up 11 Centres of Excellence across India in the next eight years. The first centre will be set up in Hyderabad by April ’07, two more centres will be set up following year in Delhi and Mumbai, respectively.

The Centres of Excellence will be a post-CA qualification and will have teachers from management institutes such as the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. It will mainly focus on improving communication and marketing skills of chartered accountants.

The course, designed in an “MBA style with case studies and practical experience” can be taken full time by a student who has just answered his CA exams or as part time for working professionals. Besides this, it will also include specialised courses in specific areas like VAT and service tax and average period of course varies from a couple of months to two years. “What we lack is good presentation,” said Sunil Talati, vice president, ICAI.

There are an approximate 1.30 lakh chartered accountants working in India. Recently, many have moved to further studies mostly an MBA to move up the corporate ladder. Opines Manoj Ramaswamy, Finance Manager with a leading multinational in Bangalore, “The demand now is for value addition; doing MBA helps sharpen analytical skills and also to look ahead which is very important while taking major decisions.”

India is the first country to initiate such Centres of Excellence. And though Indian CAs are in demand both within the country and outside like the US and the Middle- East; chartered accountants here feel their real potential is yet to be realised.