CAAS Raises Alarm Over Non-Compliant CA Certificates to Safeguard Ethical Chartered Accountants

The Chartered Accountant Association Surat (CAAS) has taken a strong stand against certain unethical practices followed by a few chartered accountants while issuing professional certificates.

It is very heartbreaking to hear that every year several sincere Chartered Accountants (CAs) lose their genuine client they earn after so much hard work just because they refuse to issue negligent or non-compliant certificates that do not adhere to the compulsory ICAI Guidance Note.

As per CAAS, these non-compliant certificates are issued by the CAs under pressure from bankers, clients, government authorities like GPCB, DIC, DGVCL, GST, or others. This issue is acting as a cause of conflict between the two classes of CAs (one that follows professional standards and another that issues easy, one-page certificates carelessly). These non-compliant certificates several times do not include even the necessary safeguard paragraphs that can expose the issuing CA and create unlimited liability for them.

The authority also raised concern towards how such certificates are creating unhealthy competition. When some CAs issue certificates in comparatively less time without proper checks and examination, clients usually move to such CAs and avoid visiting responsible ones who comply with proper ICAI guidelines and maintain ethical standards.

To resolve this issue, CAAS has previously given a cut-off date of December 08, 2025, and asserted that any CA caught issuing these certificates without complying with ICAI’s mandatory Guidance Note after this date will have to suffer disciplinary action. In recent days, CAAS has flagged several such examples where these certificates were issued by CAs. Among which, some senior CAs apologised and claimed a lack of awareness; CAAS stated that ignorance cannot be an excuse.

The Association has given members a chance to review, correct, or disown any non-compliant certificates immediately. Additionally, they warned that if members continue to ignore the guidelines, these cases will then directly be reported to the ICAI Disciplinary Committee.

This information was shared by CA Atul Modani through his Twitter post.

Initiative by Chartered Accountant Association Surat to stop unethical practice by few CAs

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It is disheartening to learn that every year many CAs loose their hard earned client just for exercising caution and not issuing mindless Certificates which do…

— Atul Modani (@atulmodani) February 7, 2026

Through this initiative, the aim of CAAS is to protect ethical professionals, maintain the credibility of the CA profession, and ensure that certificates are issued responsibly with proper safeguards and professional diligence.