CA firms to onboard interns under PMIS,
allowed to advertise under ICAI's revised code
Chartered Accountant (CA) firms are likely to start
accepting interns under the Pradhan Mantri Internship Scheme (PMIS) soon.
Meanwhile, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has
implemented a revised code of ethics, allowing the issuance of advertisements,
among other changes.
Under the scheme, an intern can get at least Rs.9,000
per month, out of which Rs.8,100 is provided by
the government and the remaining Rs.900
or even more can be provided by CA Firms from a non-Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) fund. There is agreement on this issue with the
government, ICAI President Prasanna Kumar D told businessline. Since the PMIS
guidelines prescribe payment of the company's contribution through the CSR
fund, and CA firms do not have that fund, there was a technical issue. Now that
has been resolved.
As part of Budget 2024-25, PMIS aims to provide
internship opportunities to 1 crore youth across the top 500 companies over 5
years. Under the scheme, the company is expected to provide the person with
actual working experience in a skill in which the company is directly involved.
At least half of the internship period would be spent in the actual work/
real-life business environment.
On the issue of another budget announcement,
introduction of PM Mitra, Kumar said: We have given our inputs to the
government. We expect the scheme will see launch soon as early as next month,
he said. Earlier, the institute had said that it was working on a 9-month
curriculum, with theoretical and practical training provided over the same
period. With a nationwide network of 5 Regional Councils and 186 branches,
including a strong footprint in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, the Institute
offers an established last-mile professional infrastructure precisely where
MSMEs are densely located.
This enables delivery of structured compliance and
advisory support without geographical or cost barriers that often restrict
smaller enterprises from accessing quality professional services. The primary
objectives of these Corporate Mitras courses are to create a pool of
industry-ready Corporate Mitras with strong practical knowledge. It will also
enable MSMEs to access affordable and effective compliance and advisory
support.
Revised Code of Ethics
Meanwhile, ICAI has made the revised (13th edition)
Code of Ethics Public, with April 1 as the implementation date. According to
Kumar, one of the significant changes is permitting CA firms to advertise.
This will be an important step for becoming big in line with PM's vision for
creating big desi firms, he said. Revised code says, The Members may
advertise through a write up setting out their particulars or of their firms
and services provided by them subject to the Guidelines by ICAI and must be
presented in such a manner as to maintain the profession's good reputation,
dignity and its ability to serve the public interest, it said while adding
that the institute will neither approve a proposed write-up, nor owns any
responsibility whatsoever for such contents or claims by the writer Member(s)/
Firm(s)
Other changes in the code enable strengthening the
independence provision relating to Non-Assurance Services for audit clients.
There are new ethics standards for Sustainability Assurance, including Independence
Standards, as Volume III of the Code of Ethics. It prescribes that under the
revised website guidelines, members and firms may now use push technology for
non-exclusive services and pull mode technology for exclusive services. It
will also enable inclusion of services under Management Consultancy and Other
Services, such as forensic accounting, research analysis, social impact
assessment and evaluation, artificial intelligence, and other emerging areas.
www.thehindubusinessline.com,
dt. 03-06-2026