Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Apr 04, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Apr 04, 2002 |
|
|
|
|
|
Opinion
-
Accountancy Columns - Account Speak Under construction
THIS may come as a surprise to the Finance Minister but the Finance Bill is still "under construction" if one were to go by the ICAI's Web site, last updated on March 23, 2002. Accountants are generally known to miss the woods for trees, and substance for form. So, one should not complain if there is an odd CA out there — for whom it is the alma mater that is the be all and end all — who believes that the Budget is yet to see the light of the day. But there are many more aspects that are under construction: Committee achievements, ICAI landmarks, secretariat structure, CPE journal, tech tips for members, career advice, and so on. "Know your Institute" is nothing more than a blank page that stands still after some quivering moments of the cursor. Perhaps one needs to know how to plug-in a fancy add-on before getting to know other things. There is a "knowledge sharing" section, however, which will be activated shortly. Legal decisions and notifications provide an ambitious menu: "Company law, SEBI, income-tax, Excise, Customs, industrial law, forex, cyber laws" and so on but one has to wait till the scaffolds are removed. Why grudge if the 52nd Annual Report begins with "great pleasure in presenting the 51st Annual Report for the year ended 31st March 2000". Or if "value added member services" are no more than a list of half a dozen items for sale — "pair of cufflink (only member) Rs 5; tie pin Rs 3; saree pin Rs 3" and so on. One good thing however is the schedule of meetings for the month. This used to be privileged information. The flip side however is that everybody would know that much of time is being spent in disciplinary committee meetings, in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore this month. Interestingly, the "media" section has, among other things, "press releases" and "TV programs", eager to offer a "page can not be found" message on clicking. Last in the "links" is ICSI and I should be too loyal to the ICAI to say that the homepage of the rival body is far better. A click on the "ICWAI" link, however, produced a "page cannot be displayed" message. Understandable.
D. Murali
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|