New Delhi, Aug. 24: The government is likely to notify the accounting standards developed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) by the end of September. With this notification, the accounting standards will become part of the Companies Act.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference on accounting standards here today, Jitesh Khosla, joint secretary in the department of company affairs (DCA), said a number of accounting standards were ready and would be notified by the end of this quarter.

ICAI’s technical director said, “Even though the ICAI has issued a number of accounting standards, none have been notified till date. Even though accounting standards issued by the ICAI are mandatory for companies, the notification will put the government’s seal of approval on the standards.”

Explaining the significance of the notification, former ICAI president . D. Gupta said, “Section 211 of the Companies Act specified that power will be vested in the central government to notify from time to time accounting standards which will be mandatory for the companies. Till the government notifies it, the onus was on ICAI to issue the standards which were mandatory for the companies nevertheless.”

Gupta said the notification would put accounting standards at par with the clause 49 of the listing agreement of Sebi and the two accounting standards issued under the Income Tax Act.

Khosla has also said in tune with the harmonisation of the Indian accounting standards and international accounting standards and to align the Indian economy with the global one “about half a dozen new accounting standards need to be formulated”. He added that this was a continuous process.