ICAI Announced Formation of SRO for Social Stock Exchange

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI) has announced the Formation of SRO for Social Stock Exchange.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) notification: F. No. SEBI/LAD-NRO/GN/2022/90 of 25 July, 2022 on the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements (Third Amendment) Regulations by social enterprises has set the tone for the formation of the Social Stock Exchange in India, as a separate segment of a recognized stock exchange, to facilitate fundraising by social enterprises, both for-profit as well as not for profit organisations.

The SEBI created a new class of auditors, the social auditors, to prove the importance of its social objective and of the projects, programmes, and activities of social enterprises. A social auditor is described as a person registered with a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) under the Institute of Chartered Accounts of India, according to a recent SEBI notification (ICAI). An individual must pass a certification programme run by the National Institute of Securities Market (NISM) and possess a current certificate in order to seek the position of a social auditor. The social auditor certification program’s course content and study guides are being developed in close collaboration between ICAI and NISM.

The Council of ICAI recently approved the formation of SRO for the social auditors as envisaged in the SEBI notification dated 25 July, 2022 mentioned above. The SRO is proposed to be named as “Institute of Social Auditors of India” and will be set up as a Section 8 company under the Companies Act, 2013, under the aegis of ICAI.

On this occasion, CA. (Dr.) Debashis Mitra, President, ICAI, mentioned that “ICAI has decided to form SRO with the vision to be a leading institution for the development of an independent, ethical, and world-class social auditors’ profession responding to needs and expectations of the stakeholders.” He complimented Sustainability Reporting Standards Board of ICAI for working relentlessly to ensure the formation of SRO promptly.

The proposed SRO would concentrate on enhancing the professional skills of social auditors while maintaining the highest ethical standards and adhering to the letter and spirit of social stock exchange rules. Any emerging market sector involves constant capacity building. The accountant profession in India is governed by the ICAI, which has the resources and expertise to handle such difficulties. Since the past seven decades, ICAI has been working in this direction and will live up to stakeholder expectations.