Digital Era & Chartered Accountancy Profession
Back in 2006, when I entered in CA profession, we were thought that CAs are expected to be perfect in their accounting skills. Accounting was considered to be all about accounting standards, be it IGAAP or IFRS, and about the disclosure requirements along with Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss A/c and Cash Flow Statement. While we were trying to cope up with the international standards during all these years, there were drastic changes globally peoples approach in carrying out their business. Ideally, CAs role is directly related to the business environment of the nation. Which is to say that since the CAs are accountable for the businesses they audit or advice, they are also expected to understand the environment in which these businesses operate.
While the business owners were adapting to the new technologies and the latest modes of carrying out their business which included digitisation of the transactions, payments, communication, etc. CA curriculum in India have always been kept traditional. All these years since the independence, where the business developments have happened in a phased manner, in the last 5 years there has been complete change in the way business is looked at in India. People have been shifted to digital means to transact, be it marketing, be it sales, be it payments, etc. Having understood this, one has to realise the requirement for a complete shift in the curriculum of CA and the approach which should be deliberated for the CA students, from the old school to the Digital Era.
Why is this so important? Ofcourse, this would be the first question which anyone would get in their mind while starting this topic. We have always seen in Indian Bollywood movies that the cops arrive at the scene after the incidence is occurred and the mischief has happened. This culture remains throughout all verticals in India, including the professional environment. There was a time when the E-commerce entered the Indian economy, it was a welcome move where trading became of products was moved from showrooms to cellphones, ticket booking was moved from windows to mobile apps, etc. The Indian systems have, after deliberating on the subject have lately comforted themselves with the way E-commerce works, excluding the bureaucrats, who are still struggling to understanding the modus operandi, due to lack of training, again its because of their curriculum which still remains old school. And now they have seen the shift again, a new technology has stepped in the economy, BLOCKCHAIN. Blockchain, having its own advantages, has its own way of functioning. Professionals in each field which include accountancy, technology, marketing, designing, and so on, need to understand this technology. One of its most critical and important changes which has even impacted the economy which functions with blockchain technology was introduction of CRYPTOCURRENCY.
Having understood that the cryptos have a huge impact on the economy of any nation, it is also important that the nation should understand the pros and corns both of this technology.