The Finale of the 21st World Congress of Accountants focused on the real world and the future of the economy with regards to corporate, entrepreneurship and sustainability. Each session witnessed players from respective industry and thought leaders sharing their thoughts and ideology on the key topics that revolve around the economy, commercial laws, technology, robust plan for a developed future.

CA. Y. M. Kale Past President, ICAI and Mr. Bharat Goenka Co-Founder and Vice Chairperson of Tally Solutions in the inaugural session of day 4 spoke about ‘Do we really live in a connected world? An insight into a possible future of how connectivity can change the lives of professional accountants and businesses globally’ where Mr. Goenka pointed out that “Companies today have witnessed changes in their communication, but can you convene transactions wherein live and updated data is required over export and old data, which brings in the need for technology changes. This action of occasional communication with clients is what we see changing in the next 12-18 months. The role of CA comes in when the businesses fail to have the acumen for finances and accountancy”

During the session about ‘Enabling Sustainability for a Better Future’ Teresa Jacobs, executive director, ISDC, thanked the WCOA for raising this much talked about issue on sustainability and praised India for inculcating a strong vegetarian practice along with being to build the world 1st green international airport in the state of Cochin.

For a special session, ‘Being Future Ready - India@100, held by CA. Amarjit Chopra, Past President, ICAI; focused on building a sustainable future. Invited speaker Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC talked about “From what I have seen in the past 3 days I see WCOA being the pillar of solidarity by being faster, aiming higher and standing strong together. Today the world is in a Poly-Crisis state in many ways. All countries around the world are facing a drop in growth from 6.1% to 2.7% and more than 1/3rd of the world will see negative growth and inflation. Whereas India, has had a calibrated and confident increase. I see the growth of India in the next 5 years going from 3.4 trillion dollars to 7.5 trillion dollars. By 2031, I see India’s stock market to be the 3rd in the world amounting at 3 trillion dollars. In my 50 years I have never been more optimistic for the future of India as I am today. Standing here I thank all CA’s who instill confidence in businesses with by honesty, integrity, and transparency”

Sustainability being the key focus of the 21st World Congress of Accountants, a session on Happy State of Mind for a Greener World was held comprising of a panel discussion between CA. M. Devaraja Reddy Past President, ICAI and Dr. Gnanvatsal Swami Life Coach and Eminent Speaker who proclaimed “Growth, progress and success are all different. An increase in your productivity is growth, a quality standard of growth is progress and when this progress is aided with the right attitude and a healthy mind it is called success. There are 3 ways through which one can achieve a happy state of mind – Be a prosperity thinker not a poverty thinker, practice intense hard work with ethics and third, always maintain the right amount of humanity, morality and spirituality inside of you towards others to achieve happiness in your mind.”

CA. (Dr.) Debashis Mitra, President, ICAI and CA. Aniket S Talati, Vice-President, ICAI, gave a hearty thank you to the speakers thus far and felicitated them all for their empowering and enlightening words.

The Day 4, will further host Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance and Mr. Anupam Kher, actor to speak on how to ‘Transform your life with positive thinking’ and finally the closing ceremony will be attended and addressed by the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis.

About ICAI -

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament, viz. The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (Act No. XXXVIII of 1949) for regulating the profession of Chartered Accountancy in the country. The ICAI is the one of the premier accountancy bodies of the world, with a strong tradition of service to the Indian economy in public interest.

About WCOA -

The World Congress of Accountants is held once every four years and is popularly known as the "Olympics of Accountancy Profession". It is one of the most prestigious global events for Professional Accountants that is organized under the aegis of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the global organization for the accountancy profession. It is a matter of great pride not only for the accounting profession in India but also for the entire country, as the World Congress is happening in India for the first time in 118 years of its existence on the theme “Building Trust Enabling Sustainability.”