India Aims for 'Big Four' Accounting Firms: Govt Plans Aggregation, Insurance Standards

New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) The government, along with the chartered accountants' body ICAI, is working for aggregation of accounting and auditing firms in the country to make them global players, a senior official said on Monday.

The aim is to have the 'Big Four' accounting and auditing firms from India, and efforts are already on.

Corporate Affairs Secretary Manoj Govil said the government is taking various measures to further improve corporate governance in the country.

Apart from the aggregation of CA (Chartered Accountants) firms, the corporate affairs ministry is also working on having accounting standards for the insurance sector and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), Govil said.

With respect to accounting standards for banks, he said the ministry is in discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The ministry is planning to come out with the accounting standards for the insurance sector soon, he noted.

He was speaking at the function to mark the 75th year of the setting up of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

Among other plans, Govil said the ministry will review the rules under the companies and LLP laws apart from working on reducing the time taken for voluntary closure of companies.

Currently, he said, the average time taken for the voluntary closure of companies is three months.

Govil also said the ministry has taken several initiatives in recent years to improve corporate governance and the ease of doing business, and most provisions of the companies law have also been decriminalised.

ICAI President Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal said a plan for the aggregation of CA firms will be prepared in the next few months.