Reviewed by Cadambi A. Srinivasan Drexel University
This book proposes a theory regarding the origin of accountancy in India, and describes in great detail the growth and functioning of the accounting profession since 1857 when the first Company legislation was placed on the Statute book. The book is organized into seven chapters.
Chapter One (pp. 1-28) outlines the system of land tenure, currency, trade, and various occupations as well as the general social and economic conditions prevailing in India during the Vedic period (about 3000 B.C.), to indicate the existence of a developed system of record keeping. Based on this and other evidence, the author concludes that “the art and practice of accounting, as a highly developed system, was in vogue in India even during the times of the Vedas.”
Fiscal enactments—specifically, legislation relating to companies on account of their requirements dealing with the accounts and audits of corporations—have had a significant impact on the development of the accounting profession in India. Chapter Two (pp. 29-74) traces the history of Company legislation from 1857 till the enactment of the Companies Act, 1936, and describes the impact of each of these legislations on the gradual evolution of the profession.
Chapter Three (pp. 75-150) traces the growth of the profession during 1930-1948, and the stages through which the Indian Accountancy Board came to be established. The Board was constituted of selected persons representing interests principally affected or having special knowledge of Accountancy in India to advise the Governor General in Council on all matters of administration relating to Accountancy and to assist him in maintaining standards of qualification and conduct required of auditors.
Chapters Four and Five, (pp. 151-229) describe the recognition by the Government in 1948 that the stage had arrived for the profession to assume responsibility for the maintenance of the requisite standard of professional competence, discipline, and conduct of its members. The subsequent passage of the Chartered Accountants Act in 1949 established an autonomous Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and created a council thereof to manage its affairs. The council was to be composed of persons elected by the members of the Institute. The Institute was empowered to serve both as an examining body as well as a licensing body.
Chapter Six (pp. 230-446) deals with the major problems the Institute of Chartered Accountants had to attend to. The need for ensuring the quality of input into the profession, for members’ con-tinued education and training, and the necessity to build a code of conduct for the general membership are some of the more im-portant concerns discussed.
Finally in Chapter Seven, entitled “Behold Thy Future,” the author emphasizes the need for the service-oriented accounting profession to be in tune with changes in the economic and social order. He focuses on the need to “expand the scope of the audit and making audit a tool for full information to be given and for a test of the principles of propriety and efficiency.” In fulfilling this expanded role the primary consideration of the profession should be social responsibility and ethics.
This book is the result of a mandate of the Council of Chartered Accountants of India assigning to the author the task of writing the history of the profession in India. Having been the nerve center of the profession and the first elected president of the Institute, the author is uniquely qualified to perform the task. The book is extremely well written and provides an excellent historical perspective. The book is highly recommended to the interested reader.
