Protect CAs, curb Big Four dominance: Congress MP in Rajya Sabha

Senior Congress leader Vivek K. Tankha on Thursday urged the Centre to enact legal safeguards for chartered accountants and take steps to curb the dominance of the “Big Four” audit firms, arguing that domestic CA firms require policy support to compete on a level playing field.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the Madhya Pradesh MP said Deloitte, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Ernst & Young and KPMG each handle mandates worth over Rs 10,000 crore, while nearly one lakh Indian CA firms rarely cross ₹10 crore in annual business.

“I am voicing the concern of nearly five lakh chartered accountants who live and work in this country, and over four lakh who are abroad. They are the gatekeepers of our businesses and the crisis managers of our operationalised government policies,” Tankha said.

Emphasising the profession’s role in major policy rollouts such as demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said while ministers make announcements, it is chartered accountants who implement policies on the ground. “There were so many forms, so much law and so many rules that a common man did not even know. It was the CAs who made it work,” he said.

Tankha also flagged concerns over what he described as increasing intrusion by investigative agencies into the functioning of CAs, saying issues of privacy and client confidentiality were at stake. Citing a recent Supreme Court ruling that criticised investigative agencies, he said the court had observed that a chartered accountant cannot be held liable for documents furnished by clients.

“The time has come for a CA Protection Act — or a law similar to those that protect lawyers and doctors. Chartered accountants also need statutory protection,” he asserted.

Questioning the structure of large public and private sector tenders, Tankha said mandates worth over Rs 500 crore effectively exclude Indian firms from bidding. “Which Indian CA firm can even bid for such contracts?” he asked, alleging that the dominance of the four multinational firms was reinforced by their influence and deep institutional networks.

He called for measures to encourage domestic CA firms to scale up and reduce dependence on the Big Four, who, he said, “audit, account and operationalise everything that happens in India”.

Tankha also highlighted the contribution of 8,000–10,000 Indian CAs working in West Asia, saying they play a key role in bringing business and revenue back to India.

With PTI inputs