GUIDELINES FOR PERMITTING THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS/FIRMS OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS TO POST THEIR PARTICULARS AT WEBSITE
As you are aware, under Clause (6) of Part I of the first schedule to
the Chartered Accountant Act, 1949, the members are prohibited from
soliciting clients or professional work either directly or indirectly by
circular, advertisement, personal communication or interview or by any
other means. The Council laid down its guidelines/directions for posting
the particulars on website by Chartered Accountants in practice and
firm(s) of Charted Accountants in practice. The same are published in
para (n) under the said Clause (6) of Para I of the First Schedule to
the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 at page 63-68 of the Code of Ethics,
2001 edition.
Recently, the Council considered to revise the
sub-Clauses (8) & (20) of the existing website guidelines and
decided to modify them on the following lines:
"(8) Display of Passport size photograph is permitted."
in place of existing sub-Clause
"(8) No photograph of any sort are permitted."; and
"(20)
The Website may provide a link to the Website of ICAI, its Regional
Councils and Branches and also to the Websites of Govt./Govt.
Departments/Regulatory authorities/other professional bodies, such as,
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (ICAEW) and
The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA)."
in place of existing sub-Clause
"(20)
The Website may provide a link to the Website of ICAI, its Regional
Councils and Branches and also to the Websites of Govt./Govt.
Departments/Regulatory authorities. Except the neither link to nor
information about any other Website is permitted."
The revised guidelines in full are as under:"(n) Website
The
Council at its meeting held in January, 2001 approved the detailed
guidelinesfor posting the particulars on Website by Chartered
Accountants in practice and firms(s) of Chartered Accountants in
practice.Further, the Council at its meeting held in July, 2003 amended
sub-clauses (8) & (20) of the said guidelines in full issued by the
Council are as under:
1. The Chartered Accountants and/or Chartered Accountants' Firms
would be free to create their own Website subject to the overall
guidelines laid down by the Council hereunder. The actual format of the
Website is not being prescribed nor any standard format of the Website
is being given to provide independence to the Members. There is no
restriction on the colours which may be used in the Website.
2.Individual Members would also be permitted to have their Webpages in their trade name or individual name.
3.The
Chartered Accountants and/or Chartered Accountants' Firms would ensure
that their Websites are run on a "pull" model and not a "push" model of
the technology to ensure that any person who wishes to locate the
Chartered Accountants or Chartered Accountants' firms would only have
access to the information and the information should be provided only on
the basis of specific "pull" request.
4.The Chartered
Accountants and/or Chartered Accountants' Firms should ensure that none
of the information contained in the Website be circulated on their own
or through E.mail or by any other mode or technique except on a specific
"pull" request.
5.The Chartered Accountants would also not
issue any circular or any other advertisement or any other material of
any kind whatsoever by virtue of which they solicit people to visit
their Website. The Chartered Accountants would, however, be permitted to
mention their Website address on their professional stationery.
6.The following information may be allowed to be displayed on the Firms'/Members' Websites :
- Member/Trade/Firm name.
- Year of establishment.
- Member/Firm's Address (both Head Office and Branches)
Tel. No(s)
Fax No(s)
E-mail ID(s)
- Nature of services rendered (to be displayable only on specific "pull" request)
- Partners
| Partners Name |
Year of Qualification |
Other Qualifications |
Tel. No.
Off.-Direct
Res.
Mobile
E-mail address |
Area of
Experience
(to be
displayable
only on
specific
"pull"
request) |
- Details of Employees -
| Professional |
Others |
Name |
Designation |
Area of experience (to be displayable
only on specific "pull" request) |
- Job vacancies for the Chartered Accountant/firm of Chartered Accountants (including articleship)
- No. of articled clerks. (to be displayable only on specific "pull" request)
- Nature of assignments handled (to be displayable only on specific "pull" request). Names of clients and fee charged cannot be given.
7) Since Chartered Accountants in practice/firms of Chartered
Accountants are not permitted to use logo with effect from 1st July,
1998, they cannot use logo on Website also.
8) Display of passport size photograph is permitted.
9)
The members may include articles, professional information,
professional updation and other matters of larger importance or of
professional interest.
10) The bulletin boards can be provided.
11)
The chat rooms can be provided which permit chatting amongst members of
the ICAI and between Firms and its clients. The confidentiality
protocol would have to be observed.
12) The members/firms can
provide on line advice to their clients who specifically request for the
advice whether free of charge or on payment.
13) The listing on
suitable search engine should be permitted. However, the field of
search should be restricted only to the field of "Chartered Accountants"
or "CA" or "Indian CA", "Indian CPA", "Indian Chartered Accountant" or
any permutation or combination related thereto. The Websites would be
subjected to the guidelines contained herein and normally would not be
vetted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). ICAI
at its sole discretion may vet any of the Websites created by its
members or individual Chartered Accountant or firms of Chartered
Accountants and would have powers to direct deletion of certain portions
and/or issue specific directions. In addition, necessary action can be
taken in accordance with the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and the
Regulations framed thereunder, in case there is any violation of the
above guidelines.
14) The details in the Website should be so
designed that it does not amount to soliciting client or professional
work or advertisement of professional attainments or services. In case
any content or technical feature of Website is against the professional
Code of Conduct and Ethics as well as the restrictions contained in the
schedules to the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 or against the
guidelines or directions issued by ICAI from time to time, appropriate
action will be initiated by the ICAI in terms of its disciplinary
mechanism either suo-motu or on complaint as provided under the
Chartered Accountants Act, 1949.
15) The Website should ensure adequate secrecy of the matters of the clients handled through Website.
16)
A number of Chartered Accountants Societies or other bodies are
creating data-bases of Chartered Accountants or Chartered Accountants'
Firms and are offering listing to Chartered Accountants. Such listing
would be permitted with or without payment. In case a Chartered
Accountant or Chartered Accountants' Firm is a member of a professional
body or association or Chamber of Commerce and they offer listing to the
members or firm, the same would be permitted.
17) The Institute
of Chartered Accountants of India will regularly inform the aforesaid
guidelines to the members and the Chartered Accountants' Firms to ensure
the strict compliance of the guidelines. The guidelines may be revised
from time to time.
18) No Advertisement in the nature of banner or any other nature will be permitted on the Website.
19)
The Website should be befitting the profession of Chartered Accountants
and should not contain any information or material which is unbecoming
of a chartered accountant.
20) The Website may provide a link to
the Website of ICAI, its Regional Councils and Branches and also to the
Websites of Govt./Govt. Departments/Regulatory authorities/other
professional bodies, such as, American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants (AICPA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England
& Wales (ICAEW) and The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
(CICA).
21) The address of the Website can be different from the
name of the firm. But it should not amount to soliciting clients or
professional work or advertisement of professional attainments or
services. The Website address should be as near as possible to the
individual name/trade name, firm name of the Chartered Accountant in
practice or firm of Chartered Accountants in practice. The Committee on
Ethical Standards & Unjustified Removal of Auditors (CESURA) of ICAI
will decide in case there is any difficulty.
22) The address of the Website should be intimated to the ICAI within 30 days.
23)
The Website should mention the date upto which it is updated and the
information should not be at material variance from the information as
per the ICAI's records.
A number of non-Chartered Accountants'
firms, corporates including banks, finance companies and newspapers have
set up their own websites providing advisory services on taxation and
other areas where Chartered Accountants are rendering professional
service. Some of such websites may request Chartered Accountants or
Chartered Accountants' firms to provide consultation and advice through
their websites. This would be permitted subject to the condition that on
the website, contact address of the Chartered Accountant concerned is
not provided nor such website will contain any material which
advertises professional achievements or status of such Chartered
Accountant except making a statement that they are charterd Accountants.
The name of Chartered Accountants' firm with suffix "Chartered
Accountants" would not be permitted."