Thursday, June 08, 2006

Cost Accountants as Accountant in Income tax act-Thronging for a rightful place!

Management Accountant-an accountant of the future for Governance-Both Corporate world and the GovernmentWhy should Cost accountants be allowed to conduct Tax Audit u/s44AB of Income tax audit.1. Cost accountants are basically professional accountants withfocus on Cost management and accounting for managerial needs(A truemanagement accountant)2.ICWAI is a professional accounting body Established by a statuteway back in 1959.3.It is a founder member of International federation of accountants.4. Many of the members of this institute are working in compositeaccounting area (Financial and cost accounting) , as well as, manyof the practicing members are involved in Internal audit function,Cost accounting also depends on same set of original records whichis used to draw financial statements only the mode of visualizingthe expenditure and the method of treatment is different whichfinally measures the efficiency of the enterprise.5.Financial accounts has a singular goal of drawing profits out ofall incomes by way of charging all expenses. Its classification issimply whether an item is a capital/revenue/deferred revenue .Thatis the crux of the financial statements.Cost accounting is based on classification of expenditure intoDirect/indirect its concern is not profit-centric since it believesthat such simplistic assumption misleads the efficiency ofsegments/sub segments of the organization .The financial accountscan get the owners caught napping by building castles withoutfoundation. Cost accounting is truly a test of efficiency of thegoing concern and the dimensions of cost accounting are everevolving.6.When we talk interms of Tax collection we talk in terms ofallowances and disallowances of items occurring in the financialstatements . Infact the tax authorities are concerned with actualcost under the particular head and also in some cases whether suchis heads of expenditure are fanciful/decorator or factual. This onlyshows that tax authorities are at varience with financial accountingand its policies of classification of expenditure.A cost accountantis in a better position to interpret on Closing stock valuationwhich is an important component of profit valuation. A costaccountant again is in a better position to interpret Assetvaluation its position in depreciation etc. A cost accountant isagain in a better position to check the various allowances(investment) are being properly granted. Basically the concept ofcost is hidden in tax laws for allowance and disallowances of incomeand expenditure and this is where Taxman have to avail the servicesof cost accountant .
Added inputs by ssrn
One of the Direct Tax enactment i.e Estate Duty Actcontains the Definition of Accountant and CWAs were on par with CAs in thatAct. Though the ACT was abolished long back, CWAs are accountants. We canargue that when CWAs are accountants in one of the Direct Tax , how theycannot be accountant in another Direct Tax.originally framed form 3CD by CBDT, it contained somelines at the end of form stating that the form should be filled inaccordance with the generally accepted accounting principles/ standards setby the ICAI and ICWAI.It means the original intent of the govt is to recognise the CWAs in Incometax act also. It is diluted by way of explanation to the accountantdefinition.

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