New Delhi: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (Icai) will have a new accountancy course ready from July 1 to help prepare professionals to provide cost-competitive services to small businesses, especially in non-metropolitan and small-town areas, its new president Prasanna Kumar D said.
Kumar said a 21-member committee, including municipal councilors and external experts, is currently designing the modular course in consultation with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
“The system will be ready to launch by July 1, which is marked as CA Day, but the decision to roll it out depends on the government,” Kumar told Mint in an interview. The intention to start such a course was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech this year.
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Chartered Accountants Day is celebrated on 1 July every year to mark the founding of Icai in 1949.
Sitharaman said the government will allow professional institutions like Icai to design short-term courses and practical tools to develop a cadre of “corporate mitras”, especially in tier 2 and 3 cities. These accredited para-professionals will help small businesses meet compliance requirements at an affordable cost, she said on February 1.
The course syllabus, duration and eligibility are being worked out, Kumar said. “This course will offer a great career opportunity to the candidates,” said Kumar, who took over as Icai president in February.
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The mitra enterprise framework is expected to play a transformational role in bridging the last-mile compliance gap for SMEs, said Rajat Mohan, senior partner at chartered accountant firm AMRG & Associates.
“By deploying trained para-professionals under the auspices of institutions like Icai, this initiative will make basic compliance guidance, return filing support and documentation assistance much more accessible and affordable,” Mohan said.
According to Mohan, this is especially important in non-metro cities and towns where professional outreach remains limited.
“Such support can improve voluntary compliance, reduce errors and encourage informal businesses to move into the formal economy,” he said.
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Experts also said that parallel reforms are necessary for meaningful impact, particularly in simplifying tax and regulatory compliance requirements. Threshold exemptions and presumptive frameworks should also be expanded to minimize the compliance burden for truly small businesses, they said.
Kumar said v is now in the process of hiring lawyers, MBAs and chartered accountants to enhance its research capacity as it intends to provide research support to central and state governments to simplify laws. As a pilot project, Icai is currently working to simplify several laws of the Government of Andhra Pradesh relating to registration of shops and establishments and professional tax. This support will be extended to other states as well as the Centre, Kumar said.
Kumar pointed out that registration is mandatory for global networks formed between Indian Icai-registered firms and overseas entities, which will help Indian professional entities grow. In February, Icai came up with guidelines for setting up such networks, which allow domestic accounting firms to forge links with global firms.
