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D. Murali

Chennai , Nov. 5

IT'S only weeks since the Crown Prince of Dubai inaugurated the "Knowledge Village" in the UAE. Billed as the new destination of international accredited universities, professional training centres, e-learning outfits, education service providers, innovation centres, certification and testing organisations and incubators, the Knowledge Village is seen as "a vibrant, connected learning community that will develop the region's talent pool and accelerate the move to the knowledge economy" by the UAE.

And soon there may be a newcomer in its premises, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The professional accountancy body has decided to open an office there.

During an interview with Business Line, Mr R. Bupathy, the President of the ICAI, observed that he saw this as a strategic positioning of the institute in the international arena. The outflow is likely to be in the region of Rs 10 lakh for the initial cost and Rs 20 lakh annually. "We may recover a portion of the costs through training programmes," said Mr Bupathy. "There would be ample space for handling a small batch of participants for a continuing education programme."

In an interview that Mr Bupathy had given to Khaleej Times about a fortnight ago, he had spoken of his dream of deploying the office in the Knowledge Village to attract more non-resident Indians to the profession. "In the longer run, it could also help draw other nationalities to the institute, which is now the third-largest globally after the US and the UK."

Mr Bupathy is bullish about job opportunities for CAs outside India. "Post-Enron developments are working in our favour," he told Business Line. "Many developing countries look at Indian accountants in newer light compared to their counterparts in the developed world."

The ICAI has achieved "a presence in every forum of international accounting", noted Mr Bupathy, talking about having Indian representatives on global bodies such as the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) and so on. "We are reactivating our foreign chapters," he added. "Some of them had become inactive for one reason or the other. For instance, the Nairobi chapter of the ICAI is active again. Next would be the Muscat chapter."

What would these chapters do? "We want them to popularise the CA tag, conduct CPE programmes, make known the ICAI's publications, make representations to authorities on matters relating to the accounting profession and so forth. For example, in Nairobi, we are providing inputs to the government on accounting, auditing, information systems and corporate governance," he said.

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