Voices

Indian Cost Accountants Celebrate First Year of American Center

The Institute of Cost Accountants of India recently celebrated the first anniversary of the founding of the American Center of Cost Accountants of India.

ACCAI is a Maryland-based nonprofit with the objective of bringing together management accountants from India who live in the U.S. to provide them with a venue to interact and network. They hold regular meetings and talks, disseminating information about topics such as practice management, finance, accounting, tax, technology, trade, commerce and industry with reference to cost and management accounting (see Institute of Cost Accountants of India Opens D.C Office).

The dinner meeting occurred on June 20 at Indique Heights, an Indian restaurant in Chevy Chase, Md. The event coincided with the renewal of a memorandum of understanding between the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and the Institute of Management Accountants in the U.S., enabling mutual recognition and cooperation between the two institutes to develop the profession of management accounting. The renewed agreement is the only mutual reciprocal agreement that the IMA has for its Certified Management Accountant, or CMA, credential.

The event was attended by approximately 30 members from in and around Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland, including Dr. Suresh C Mohanty, president of the ICAI; Sanjay Gupta, chairman of the ICAI’s WTO and International Affairs Committee; K Govindarajan, a member of the ICAI’s Central Committee, Dr. Kathleen Sobieralski, president of the IMA’s Nation’s Capital Chapter, Thomas Goodfellow, a senior principal at TG Associates; and Dr. Rajan Natarajan, Maryland’s Deputy Secretary of State for Policy and External Affairs.

Speakers discussed the importance of the management accounting profession in the academic and corporate worlds, both in the U.S. and India. Mohanty was the keynote speaker, and he emphasized the need for incorporating management accounting principles in government and social audits. He outlined the Institute’s collaboration with the government of India in developing a cost structure for the health care industry to make it more affordable for rural communities.

Sobieralski also spoke, emphasizing the need for the efficient and effective coordination of management accounting professionals across the globe in order to share ideas that will help corporations, governments and society. 

Gupta also addressed the group, describing various initiatives taken by institute in bringing together ICAI members living outside India. Following the talks, attendees enjoyed time networking with other members followed by dinner.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Audit Associations Financial reporting
MORE FROM ACCOUNTING TODAY