In FY22 post-Covid-19, 1.67 lakh companies had been incorporated, which was higher than the previous year's figure of 1.55 lakh companies, said Finance Minister and Minister of Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman.
In a virtual address at the World Congress for Accountants, Sitharaman spoke about the responsibilities of accountants, adopting technology, and accounting for sustainability.
Accounting for sustainability is laid on three pillars—social, environmental, and economic—which translate into people, planet, and profits, she said.
The ministry has taken several steps towards facilitating, compiling, and following due diligence for companies to ensure they are well within the established practices and requirements, she said.
Highlighting the role of transparency in corporate governance, the Finance Minister said that the independence of chartered accountants is extremely important for the trust and integrity of financial statements.
"Their responsibility is not limited just to the shareholders, since statutory filings and audit reports are public documents, and they are relied on by various stakeholders, including financial institutions, governments, and common retail investors," Sitharaman said.
The minister also touched upon gearing up for the latest technology and the role of Web 3.0 in gathering, processing, and reporting financial information.
"Web 3.0 utilities such as blockchain, artificial intelligence data, analytics and cloud computing is going to give us the advantage... machine learning is also going to assist us and to improvise the accounting process itself. Therefore, meaningful generation of information to aid decision-making is going to be machine-driven," she said.
In her speech, Sitharaman also acknowledged the initiative of the non-profit International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, in their goal of forming a single set of sustainability reporting standards.
The World Congress of Accountants is an international summit organised once every four years.
This year marks the 21st edition, and is being held at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai, under the aegis of the International Federation of Accountants.
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