AICPA Chairman tells Institute of Chartered Accountants of India that core values, international focus and diversity are keys to success.

AICPA Chairman of the Board Ernie Almonte, speaking in Agra, India, to the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) recently, said that globalization is increasing the opportunities for accountants in both India and the United States. He called for a new phase of cooperative dialogue between the two organizations and a commitment to sharing ideas and best practices for improving global accounting for all their members.

During the first week of July, AImonte met with ICAI leaders, including President Uttam Prakash Agrarwal, as well as with various government officials, such as the Comptroller & Auditor General of India, Hon'ble Shri Vinod Rai. The occasion was the 60th anniversary celebration of the ICAI, the second largest accounting institute in the world, after the AICPA.

Accountants attending the event heard AImonte say that an international focus is now part of almost everything the AICPA does, and is centered on the global move toward International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS. "Global standards are inevitable," he said, "and the AICPA strongly supports a single set of high-quality accounting standards to be used by public companies everywhere in the world."

He also spoke of the common ground that exists between the accounting professions in India and the United States, namely a commitment to "a strong ethical code, and to the welfare of our clients, to our profession, and to the public."

In the wake of the recent scandal at the Indian information technology giant Satyam Computer Services, Almonte also described the measures taken by the AICPA after instances of serious fraud occurred nearly a decade ago...