The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the world’s largest accounting body, has firmly stated that tax audits should remain solely under its purview, rejecting demands from Company Secretaries (CS) and Cost Accountants (CMA) for inclusion in the definition of “accountant” under the newly-introduced Income Tax Bill 2025.
“Tax audit is fundamentally an audit function, and only chartered accountants in practice are qualified to perform audits. Audit is a serious responsibility that should be handled by professionals with the required expertise,” said Charanjot Singh Nanda, who recently took charge as ICAI President for 2025-26.
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Two judicial rulings
Nanda underscored that two key judicial rulings — one from the Supreme Court and another from the Delhi High Court — reinforce the position that CAs are best suited for tax audits.
While acknowledging the importance of sister professional bodies — the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI) — Nanda dismissed their demand for a level playing field in the Income Tax Bill in area of tax audits.
“We respect our sister institutes, but tax audits are a core domain of CAs. We don’t seek cost audits, though we study costing in our curriculum. Tax audits were entrusted to us by Parliament, and that should remain unchanged,” he asserted.
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Reacting to Nanda’s remarks, ICSI President Dhananjay Shukla said that Company Secretaries are well-equipped to conduct tax audits and should be considered at par with other professionals. Given India’s vision of becoming a $5-trillion economy by 2027 and a developed nation by 2047, he emphasised the need to expand the pool of professionals to ensure smoother tax compliance and prevent repeated extensions of filing deadlines.
Nanda’s remarks come amid growing concerns from ICSI and ICMAI over their exclusion from the definition of “accountant” in the Income Tax Bill 2025. The matter will be discussed at the Coordination Committee under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), which includes heads of all three professional bodies.
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Nanda clarified that ICAI has no objection to CS and CMAs handling tax representation work before income tax authorities.