ICAI office bearer seeks permission to file complaint against Vice Chairman of key SRSB committee
Aug 28, 2023
SN Gupta, Head of Technical Directorate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, sends mail to the ICAI secretary making several allegations against Sanjeev Singhal including disregard to office procedures.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India’s Technical Directorate SN Gupta has sought approval for filing a complaint against Sanjeev Singhal, Vice Chairman of the Sustainability Reporting Standards Board (SRSB) at ICAI as well as Audit Chairman, XBRL India, a not-for-profit entity promoted by the Institute.
Singhal is a Partner at EY’s audit arm S.R. Batliboi & Co LLP.
“I am writing this email to obtain your approval for filing a complaint in Discipline Committee against CA (Dr) Sanjeev Singhal, Vice Chairman SRSB and Chairman Audit Committee (XBRL India), on account of (A) Reckless disregard to office procedures (B) violating the terms of reference of SRSB (C) utmost serious mental torture to office, (D) wasting ICAI funds, (E) unethical practices used in Expression of Interest and allotment of work (F) Putting pressure to make wrong payments and blocking the work of the SRSB Board and XBRL India,” Gupta, Head of Technical Directorate, wrote in an email to the ICAI’s secretary Jai Kumar Batra dated August 12. ETCFO has a copy of the email.
“I have already flagged these issues in last three months with your good self. It is very unfortunate that the torchbearers of Sustainability, who are supposed to bring SDG goals in the working of ICAI are doing all this,” Gupta, also ex-secretary, SRSB, further wrote.
ETCFO contacted the ICAI secretary for the institute’s response on the development. In a written response, ICAI secretary Batra said, “We are forming a Group to look into the matter in accordance with our well established grievances handling mechanism. We will share the findings of the Group in due course of time.”
ETCFO followed up with Singhal for his response. "Since the matter is already under the consideration of ICAI, my comments are not warranted at this stage," Singhal said in an email.
ETCFO also wrote an email to the Head of Technical Directorate SN Gupta to understand the basis of the accusations but that did not elicit responses till the publication of this report.
Technical Directorate is one of the key Departments of ICAI which deals with bringing out technical pronouncements such as Standards, Statements, Guidance Notes, etc. which are used by corporates and CAs around the country. The Accounting Standards set by ICAI are brought out by the Technical Directorate.
The SRSB is one of the ICAI’s 41 committees. It was set up in February 2020 and Singhal was its first chairman; he held chairmanship for three years until February 2023. Currently, the Board is headed by CA Preeti Salva.
The SRSB’s terms of reference include reviewing the emerging trends globally and evaluating the need for standard setting in India, as well as formulating and issuing the Social Audit Standards, among others.
XBRL (India) was created by ICAI "to enable the nation with the best of international practices in the field of reporting and dissemination of financial information," the Institute’s website says.
Besides being Vice-Chairman of SRSB and Audit Chairman of XBRL India, Singhal is also a Central Council Member, and Chairman of ICAI’s Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB) as well as its Public Relations Committee (PRC). By virtue of being Chairman of AASB, he also serves the country’s independent audit regulator, the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) as a part-time member.
The ICAI is self-funded but the Institute functions under the administrative control of the Corporate Affairs Ministry. The ICAI posted a net surplus of Rs 291 crore in the financial year 2021-22, its annual report showed.
[ET CFO]
