New Delhi, Jan. 3: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is keen that a total ban is not imposed on the acceptance of non-audit services by its members. At the international level, moves are afoot to put a blanket ban on the acceptance of non-audit services by chartered accountants.

Joining the contentious debate, ICAI president Sunil Goyal told The Telegraph, ?A total ban on non-audit services by accountants will prove to be costly to the industry apart from the high cost and the difficulty of compliance.?

Goyal said the ICAI feels that as it is, auditors cannot undertake non-audit service engagements such as account writing and internal audit, on which they might be required to express an opinion that may be considered a direct conflict of interest.

The ICAI president said other non-audit services are permitted by the ICAI, considering various safeguards such as disclosures under the Companies Act, 1956 and prohibition to undertake services of brokering, underwriting and portfolio management.

?That leaves us with few areas where chartered accountants can provide services. The ICAI thinks there is no problem if members take up the task of making presentations on behalf of the auditee before income tax authorities and the company law board tribunal. Otherwise, different CAs will have to be hired, which will only increase the overall cost,? Goyal added.

On the issue of consultation services, Goyal said the ICAI contends that consultation should not be whole but can be operational in a regulated manner.

Already a move to put a ban on acceptance of non-audit services by auditors is afoot on the level of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) ? a global accounting body of 115 countries, including India.

The federation has membership from most Asian countries, apart from the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. In the US, the Sarbannes-Oxley act on corporate governance also provides for a separation of auditing and other services.

?The IFAC will have its next meeting in Brussels in February, where this issue will be taken up. The decision of the IFAC will not be binding on its member countries but they will be encouraged to do so,? said N. D. Gupta, a member of the tax service review committee of IFAC.