ICAI Rejects ‘False and Misleading’ Social Media Posts, Clarifies Council Decision-Making and Governance Practices:

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), in response to certain posts circulating on social media alleging that the institute is not functioning properly and raising questions about its governance, has clarified that all those posts are false and misleading.

In order to avoid any misunderstanding, the institute has issued a clarification and placed all the correct facts on record in response to all those posts:

On decision-making in the Council, ICAI stated that Regulation 166 requires resolutions to be passed by a majority of members present at a meeting. The Chairman has a casting vote in case of a tie. According to ICAI, this is a statutory requirement, and decisions cannot be based solely on the personal view of an individual Council member.

ICAI also clarified that when a Council member disagrees with a resolution or decision, the dissent is recorded by name in the official minutes. The Institute added that the minutes of all Central Council meetings have been approved unanimously.

On the opportunity to express views, ICAI said every Council member receives an equal opportunity to speak on agenda items, with no fixed time limit. Members can also speak more than once on the same matter. The Institute stated that decisions are taken only after hearing the views of all members and that no member has been stopped from expressing an opinion either in favour of or against an agenda item.

Regarding Matters of General Interest (MOGIs), ICAI said all pending MOGIs were disposed of at the Council meeting held on October 8, 2025. It stated that every MOGI received so far has been placed before the Council and considered for appropriate action. One MOGI has remained deferred for the last two meetings because the member who raised it was absent when it was taken up.

At committee meetings held outside Delhi, ICAI explained that one committee meeting in a Council year may be conducted outside Delhi with the President's permission. It said this does not significantly increase costs because members would incur boarding and lodging expenses even when meetings are held in Delhi. Personal expenses of members are borne by the members themselves and are not charged to ICAI.

ICAI further defended the World Forum of Accountants (WOFA), describing it as an annual international conference aimed at global networking, knowledge sharing, thought leadership and promoting ICAI internationally. The expenditure was approved by the Council and recorded in the financial statements. ICAI said the financial statements for 2024-25 and 2025-26 were audited with clean opinions and that WOFA did not incur any deficit in 2025 or 2026.

On foreign travel by Council members, ICAI stated that its participation in international organisations such as IFAC, CAPA, SAFA, AFA and PAFA is important for representing India's position on global accounting standards and policies. It said nominations are based on members' relevant experience, positions and subject-matter expertise. Travel expenses are incurred according to norms approved by the Government of India under Section 16(2)(d) of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949.

Through the communication, ICAI reaffirmed that it follows governance practices within the regulatory framework and issued the clarification for the information of its members and other stakeholders.