What Happens When Auditing Work Vanishes? Two CAs Debate Future Of Practice

A debate has emerged on social media over the future of services offered by Chartered Accountants (CAs) in the changing regulatory scenario amid the government’s reported proposal on mandatory audit rules for smaller companies.

According to media reports, the government is mulling changes in mandatory audit requirements to ease the compliance burden for smaller companies with a certain revenue threshold. This was reflected in a recent exchange between two CAs on the X platform, leading to a wider discussion on whether CAs can survive without audit jobs.

The discussion started when influencer and CA Himank Singla raised concerns over diminishing audit work. In his X post, Singla cautioned that the removal of audit requirements like GST and bank audits and the proposed changes for small companies could negatively affect CAs, especially the small-town firms.

“GST Audits... gone... Bank Audits... gone to a large extent, Small Companies Audit.... will be gone soon... Only audit left would be Income Tax Audits... How will the SME CA firms survive in our country?  What would the practicing CAs out of 50 lakh CAs by 2047 even do in their practice?” Singla said.

To this, Tax Compaas Founder and CEO Ajay Rotti suggested that younger CAs should stop depending on statutory audits and mandated compliances. The seasoned CA with 25 years of experience urged them to build value through skills and expertise, not merely the CA title. “MOF/SEBI/MCA/RBI .. any regulator mandates a CA certificate or audit because it aids them and not because you need to be employed. If you stop adding value... they will not need your certificate!” he said.

He also emphasised constant upskilling and adapting instead of protesting changes. Reacting to this, Singla made a fresh post in which he argued that while metros may adapt quickly, practitioners in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities face a very different reality.

Sharing a ground-level view, Singla said: “In smaller cities, Businesses don’t pay for value until the law forces them. Compliance is survival because advisory clients are limited and price-sensitive. If audits go away, there isn’t a consulting pipeline magically waiting to replace it.”

He highlighted the challenges for small-town CAs, noting that it’s not like they don’t wish to upgrade, but rather lack a mature ecosystem.

“Most small-city CAs aren’t lazy or dependency-driven. They built their practice on statutory work because that’s the only work available in their markets for years. And when regulators reduce mandatory services, we don’t lose ‘one revenue stream’, we lose the backbone of the entire market,” he explained.

Rotti also added that CAs are not scared of change, but rather afraid of bearing the cost of that change. “So, telling us Tier-2/3 city CAs feels like motivational theory written from Nariman Point and not reality from places where even basic audit fees are bargained like groceries,” he said.

Singla also suggested that if regulators want CAs to move beyond compliance work, they must also help create real market demand for higher-value services. 

“Introduce policies that encourage stronger financial practices, educate MSMEs about internal controls, risk management, systems, and analytics, and promote financial discipline that goes beyond minimum legal requirements. Give small-city practitioners a playing field and not just lectures on mindset,” the 28-year-old CA added.

Singla’s remarks followed amid reports that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is reportedly planning to exempt companies with an annual turnover of up to Rs 1 crore from mandatory statutory audits.