Power dressing in

New Delhi, Aug. 6 (PTI): Practising chartered accountants will soon have a dress code, with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) putting finishing touches to the proposal.

“We are in the process of finalising a dress code that will be announced by the end of this month,” ICAI president T.N. Manoharan said.

A formal dress code, he said, could be a full-sleeved shirt, tie and shoes.

But it would not be mandatory, he said. “It will be more of a recommendation, though we expect it to be followed by the professionals.”

The dress code would not be for day-to-day affairs but for events like business meetings and other official representations and engagements.

Manoharan also clarified that the code would apply only to chartered accountants working in an individual capacity or in a partnership. “Those who are employed with companies are not bound to follow (the code) as they will be acting as per the requirements and stipulations of the organisation they work for.”

The ICAI is also working on the design of a logo that chartered accountants could use on their visiting cards, letterheads and other stationery.

This follows an initiative of the institute where it had allowed members to use ‘CA’ as a prefix before their names.

The dress code comes at a time when the institute is planning major changes. It had recently taken an initiative to reduce the time for becoming a CA by almost one-and-a-half years. It has also simplified the rigorous examination structure students have to go through and the new system is likely to be operational from the next month.

The institute has permitted its members to set up management consultancy firms while retaining their status of being practising Cas. So far, accountants were so far not allowed to be equity holders in companies.

This has been done keeping in mind the growing role of CAs in management consultancy as well as to help them compete with major consultancy firms who could employ huge capital and human resource, Manoharan said.