Big Four accused of flouting Indian rules

Ramalinga Raju, former head of Satyam

The regulator of accounting firms in India has accused the Big Four firms of bending the rules and offering services they are not entitled to provide in the country.

The Times of India reports that a committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has concluded that the Big Four - PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young - are offering services through local affiliates but are defacto the same bodies. Indian law prevents foreign investment in auditing, accounting, book keeping and taxations services.

The Times quotes committee chairman and former ICAI chairman Uttam Prakash Agarwak saying: "It has been noticed that MAFs (multinational accounting firms), entered through automatic/FIPB route for rendering consultancy services, are transgressing the permission so granted and are rendering taxation services, auditing, accounting andbook keeping services and legal services."

PwC recently became embroiled in the Satyam scandal as the company's auditor. Two partners from the firm were arrested more than a year ago. One, Talluri Srinivas, was recently bailed. Satyam's chairman Ramalinga Raju confesed to false accounting.

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