To get rid of unqualified persons fraudulently carrying out functions of chartered accountants, cost accountants, and company secretaries, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to soon launch know-your-customer (KYC) exercise for these professionals. This comes after MCA brought the disclosure norms for companies and directors.
According to DNA, the Ministry has been receiving complaints about unqualified persons fraudulently carrying out the functions of chartered and cost accountants and of company secretaries. So to keep an eye on the frauds, the ministry is working on a set of rules for the KYC process. The exercise will be launched over the next 3-4 months. An official told the leading daily, "There have been complaints about people signing documents on behalf of members by faking signatures and seals. There have been cases of bogus chartered accountants conducting audits or signing on the books of a company using membership numbers of others."
The KYC form for chartered accountants, cost accountants, and company secretaries will be the same as the forms for directors. In this KYC form, professionals will be asked to provide details such as phone numbers, e-mails as well as postal addresses, and their membership numbers. Once the KYC process is done, the MCA will advise the industry not to employ unregistered and unqualified persons. The MCA will also ask professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) to investigate and take action against them.
