CFA : How to Pursue CFA

Posted by Deepak Gupta Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2012 with 4 comments

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program is a professional credential offered by the CFA Institute (formerly AIMR) to investment and financial professionals.A candidate who successfully completes the program and meets other professional requirements is awarded a "CFA charter" and becomes a "CFA charterholder."

Curriculum

The curriculum for the CFA program is based on a Candidate Body of Knowledge established by CFA Institute. The curriculum comprises the topic areas below, and, as mentioned, there are three exams ("levels") that test the academic portion of the CFA program. All three levels have a strong emphasis on ethics, while the material differences among the exams are:

§ The Level I study program emphasizes tools and inputs, and includes an introduction to asset valuation, financial reporting and analysis, and portfolio management techniques.

§ The Level II study program emphasizes asset valuation, and includes applications of the tools and inputs (including economics, financial reporting and analysis, and quantitative methods) in asset valuation.

§ The Level III study program emphasizes portfolio management, and includes strategies for applying the tools, inputs, and asset valuation models in managing equity, fixed income, and derivative investments for individuals and institutions.

Enroll & Register

Before you enroll in the CFA Program and register for your first exam:

1. Entrance requirements:

· Have a bachelor's (or equivalent) degree

o or be in the final year of your bachelor's degree program at the time of registration*

o or have four years of professional work experience (does not have to be investment related)

o or have a combination of professional work and college experience that totals at least four years. Part-time positions do not qualify, and the four-year total must be accrued prior to enrollment.

Candidates take one exam per year over three years (assuming a pass on the first attempt). Fees of June 2013 for each exam range from $1080 to $1635, depending on the date on which the candidate registers to take the exam.

Exams are challenging, with 38% passing the Level I, 42% passing Level II, and 52% passing Level III exam in June 2012. It should be noted that Level II and III pass rates apply to candidates that must have already passed the prior level. From 1963-2012 950,221 candidates have sat for the Level I exam, with 152,035 candidates ultimately going on to pass the Level III exam, representing a weighted average completion rate of 16%. From 2003-2012, the completion rate was 14%. Completion rates may be skewed lower due to candidates' voluntarily dropping out of the CFA program and recent candidates that have yet to sit for the Level III exam. Pass percentage of Last five attempts are given below:

Year	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
2012 Pass %	38%	42%	52%
2011 Pass %	39%/38%	43%	51%
2010 Pass %	42%/36%	39%	46%
2009 Pass %	46%/34%	41%	49%
2008 Pass %	35%	46%	53%

The June 2013 exam will be given on Saturday, 1 June 2013, except in Tel Aviv, Israel (denoted by an asterisk (*)) where it will be given on Sunday, 2 June.

In India CFA Exam Centres are Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune.

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Depreciation on Goodwill

Posted by Deepak Gupta Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2012 with 3 comments

Kerala High Court in the case of B. Raveendran Pillai (supra) and the Delhi High Court in the case of. Hindustan Coco Cola Beverages (P.) Ltd. (supra) have held that assessee is entitled to depreciation on the value of goodwill. The Kerala High Court has held that ‘goodwill is not specifically mentioned in section 32(1)(ii). Depreciation is allowable not only on tangible assets covered by clause (i) of section 32(1) but on the intangible assets specifically enumerated in clause (ii) and such of the other business or commercial rights
similar to the items specifically covered therein. Similarly the Delhi High Court has upheld that ‘payment on account of goodwill is similar to assets like patents, copyrights, trademarks, licences referred to in the definition of the block of assets in the senses that the function of all these assets is to restrict their misuse and to earn maximum profits in the business. The function of goodwill acquired by the assessee also is the same in view of the fact that it maximizes the profits of the company. Since the function of intangibles defined in the Act and the intangible acquired by the assessee is the same, the assets are similar. Therefore, the assessee’s goodwill being a valuable commercial asset similar to other intangibles specified in the definition of block of assets is eligble to depreciation’. The instant case is squarely covered by the aforementioned judgments of the Delhi High Court and Kerala High Court. Therefore, the assessee was entitled for the depreciation on goodwill.

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Difference Between Company VS Partnership VS LLP

Posted by Deepak Gupta Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 with No comments

Features	Company	Partnership firm	LLP
Registration	Compulsory registration required with the ROC. Certificate of Incorporation is conclusive evidence.	Not compulsory. Unregistered Partnership Firm will not have the ability to sue.	Compulsory registration required with the ROC
Name	Name of a public company to end with the word “limited” and a private company with the words “private limited”	No guidelines.	Name to end with “LLP”” Limited Liability Partnership”
Capital contribution	Private company should have a minimum paid up capital of Rs. 1 lakh and Rs.5 lakhs for a public company	Not specified	Not specified
Legal entity status	Is a separate legal entity	Not a separate legal entity	Is a separate legal entity
Liability	Limited to the extent of unpaid capital.	Unlimited, can extend to the personal assets of the partners	Limited to the extent of the contribution to the LLP.
No. of shareholders / Partners	Minimum of 2. In a private company, maximum of 50 shareholders	2- 20 partners	Minimum of 2. No maximum.
Foreign Nationals as shareholder / Partner	Foreign nationals can be shareholders.	Foreign nationals cannot form partnership firm.	Foreign nationals can be partners.
Taxability	The income is taxed at 30% + surcharge+cess	The income is taxed at 30% + surcharge+cess	Not yet notified.
Meetings	Quarterly Board of Directors meeting, annual shareholding meeting is mandatory	Not required	Not required.
Annual Return	Annual Accounts and Annual Return to be filed with ROC	No returns to be filed with the Registrar of Firms	Annual statement of accounts and solvency & Annual Return has to be filed with ROC
Audit	Compulsory, irrespective of share capital and turnover	Compulsory	Required, if the contribution is above Rs.25 lakhs or if annual turnover is above Rs. 40 lakhs.
How do the bankers view	High creditworthiness, due to stringent compliances and disclosures required	Creditworthiness depends on goodwill and credit worthiness of the partners	Perception is higher compared to that of a partnership but lesser than a company.
Dissolution	Very procedural. Voluntary or by Order of National Company Law Tribunal	By agreement of the partners, insolvency or by Court Order	Less procedural compared to company. Voluntary or by Order of National Company Law Tribunal
Whistle blowing	No such provision	No such provision	Protection provided to employees and partners who provide useful information during the investigation process.

This Article has been posted by CA Prashant Doshi. He Can be reached at prashantdoshi22@gmail.com

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Jobs for CA's IN HPCL

Posted by Deepak Gupta Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 with 2 comments

HINDUSTAN PETROLEUM CORPORATION LIMITED
(A Government of India Enterprise)
Regd. Office: 17, Jamshedji Tata Road, Mumbai – 400 020

Requires-Chartered Accountants

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., is a mega integrated Oil refining and marketing company with Gross Sales of Rs.1,88,131 Crores and 267th position in the prestigious list of Fortune Global 500 Companies during 2011-12. HPCL accounts for about 19.96% of the market share and about 10% of the nation's refining capacity and also operates the largest Lube Refinery in India producing Lube Base Oils of international standards, which accounts for over 40% of the India's total Lube Base Oil production.

HPCL with its performance oriented culture and well-rounded peoples’ policies has won several prestigious awards like the “Forecourt Retailer of the Year” Award 2011, by Star Retailer Awards, “Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award” for the year 2011, the “CIO 100” Award by IDG, for the sixth consecutive year for innovation use of IT to deliver value and many others.
Towards fulfilling its Mission - to be a fully integrated company in the hydrocarbons sector of exploration and production, refining and marketing; focusing on enhancement of productivity, quality and profitability, HPCL invites Chartered Accountants aspiring to join it’s team of world class professionals. The eligibility criteria regarding prescribed education, age and other eligibility criteria and application procedure is
mentioned below:

Education Qualification
Minimum educational qualification for employment in above mentioned position is:
 Candidates should be Qualified Chartered Accountant (CA) from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Candidates applying for the post should be in possession of C.A. professional qualification completed in all
respect at the time of applying for the post.

NOTE : Candidates should have also completed mandatory Articleship Training required for award of C.A.
qualification at the time of applying.
Number of Posts – 40 (SC-6, ST-3, OBC (NC)-11, Unreserved-20)

For More Information Click Here

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ICSI Admit Card for December 2012

Posted by Deepak Gupta Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2012 with No comments

ICSI: Admit Cards for December 2012 foundation exam are out.

Go to the following link to download your admit card:

http://icsi.indiaeducation.net/

DG..

Campus for SemiQualified CA's

Posted by studycafe Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 with 3 comments

Vacancy at one of Big 4 at Gurgaon. A HR Consultancy firm is Hiring Semiqualified CA'a for one of the Big 4's at gurgaon Location, Last date of interview is 10th December 2012

Trainee Hiring for Assurance

• Name of the Company: One of the BIG 4’s

• Designation: Trainee

• No of open positions: 15-20

• Nature of position: Contractual

• DOJ: 15th Dec'12

• Duration of Contract: 2.5 - 3 months (15th Dec'12- 20th Feb'12)

• Eligibility: Semi Qualified CA who have completed their 3 years of articleship, may/may not be appearing for Nov'12 attempt, strong communication and interpersonal skills

• Salary: 25000-30000 P.m

Please note that the eligible candidates should be willing to serve full duration of the contracts irrespective of their qualifying/not qualifying the Nov'12 attempt. Also, the trainees who qualify their CA final attempt would stand chances of getting confirmed basis their performance during the contract period.

Those who already sent there CV need not to send CV again there CV's are in Process.

Interested Candidates Please send their CV at contact@studycafe.in

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Old Service tax Accounting Code Restored for 120 Services

Posted by Unknown Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 with No comments

Restoration of service specific accounting codes for payment of service tax

Circular No. 165/16/2012 -ST

[F.No.341/21/2012-TRU], dated 20-11-2012

1. Negative List based comprehensive approach to taxation of services came into effect from the first day of July, 2012. Accounting code for the purpose of payment of service tax under the Negative List approach ["All Taxable Services" – 00441089] was prescribed vide

Circular 161/12/2012, dated 6th July, 2012.

2. Subsequent to the issuance of the Circular, suggestions were received from the field formations that the service specific old accounting codes should be restored, for the purpose of statistical analysis; also it was suggested that list of descriptions of services should be provided to the taxpayers for obtaining registration. These suggestions were examined and a decision has been taken to restore the service specific accounting codes. Accordingly, a list of 120 descriptions of services for the purpose of registration and accounting codes corresponding to each description of service for payment of tax is provided in the annexure to this Circular.

3. Descriptions of taxable services given in the annexure are solely for the purpose of statistical analysis. On the advice of the office of the C & AG, a specific sub-head has been created for payment of “penalty” under various descriptions of services. Henceforth, the sub-head “other receipts” is meant only for payment of interest payable on delayed payment of service tax. Accounting Codes under the sub-head “deduct refunds” is not to be used by the taxpayers, as it is meant for use by the field formations while allowing refund of tax.

4. Registrations obtained under the positive list approach continue to be valid. New taxpayers can obtain registrations by selecting the relevant description/s from among the list of 120 descriptions of services given in the Annexure. Where registrations have been obtained under the description ‘All Taxable Services’, the taxpayer should file amendment application online in ACES and opt for relevant description/s from the list of 120 descriptions of services given in the Annexure. If any applications for amendment of ST-1 are pending with field formations, seeking the description ‘all taxable services’, such amendment may not be necessary and the officers in the field formations may provide necessary guidance to the taxpayers in this regard. Directorate General of Systems will be making necessary arrangements for display of the list of 120 descriptions of services and their corresponding Accounting Codes in Form ST-1 and Form ST-2 as may be necessary.

5. Officers in the field formations are instructed to extend necessary guidance to the tax payers regarding the selection of appropriate description of taxable service and facilitate the payment of service tax/cess due under the appropriate accounting code. Trade Notice/Public Notice may be issued to the field formations and tax payers. Please acknowledge receipt of this Circular.

IDT Exam Scheduled on 27th November 2012

Posted by studycafe Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 with No comments

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
[Set up by an Act of Parliament]
Post Box No.7112, ICAI BHAWAN, Indraprastha Marg
New Delhi - 110002

TO BE PUBLISHED IN PART III SECTION 4 OF THE GAZETTE OF INDIA

19th November, 2012

NOTIFICATION

No.13-CA(Exam)/N/2012/III: In partial modification of the Institute’s Notification No. 13-CA(Exam)/N/2012 dated 4th July, 2012, it is notified for general information that due to unavoidable circumstances, the Final Examination in Paper 8 – Indirect Tax Laws, and the Post Qualification Course(s) Examination(s) in Management Accountancy, Corporate Management, Tax Management, and Insurance and Risk Management, scheduled for 18th November, 2012, in the Examination Centre(s) in Mumbai [Zone I to Zone XI], Thane, and Panvel was postponed. The Final Examination in Paper 8 – Indirect Tax Laws shall now be held on Tuesday, the 27th November, 2012 at the same venue and at the same timings, i.e. 2.00 PM to 5.00 PM. Admit Cards already issued would remain valid. As for the Post Qualification Course(s) Examination(s) in Management Accountancy, Corporate Management, Tax Management, and Insurance and Risk Management, the same shall be held on Saturday, the 22nd December, 2012.

(G. Somasekhar)
Additional Secretary (Examinations)

Campus for SemiQualified

Posted by Deepak Gupta Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 with 2 comments

We in associate with HR Consulting firm are organizing the Campus for Semi- Qualified CA's on 22nd November 2012 at Gurgaon.

Trainee Hiring for Assurance

• Name of the Company: One of the BIG 4’s

• Designation: Trainee

• No of open positions: 15-20

• Nature of position: Contractual

• DOJ: 15th Dec'12

• Duration of Contract: 2.5 - 3 months (15th Dec'12- 20th Feb'12)

• Eligibility: Semi Qualified CA who have completed their 3 years of articleship, may/may not be appearing for Nov'12 attempt, strong communication and interpersonal skills

• Salary: 25k-30k approx.

Please note that the eligible candidates should be willing to serve full duration of the contracts irrespective of their qualifying/not qualifying the Nov'12 attempt.

Also, the trainees who qualify their CA final attempt would stand chances of getting confirmed basis their performance during the contract period.

Interested Candidates Please send their CV at contact@studycafe.in

Interest on housing loan deduction US 24(b) & US 48

Posted by Deepak Gupta Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 with No comments

IT : Interest on housing loan already claimed as deduction under section 24(b) in computing income from house property can again be deducted by the assessee under section 48 as cost of acquisition while computing capital gains from sale of the house

FACTS

• Assessee sold his house during financial year 2006-07.

• He had purchased the house in 2003.

• In computing capital gains from sale of house, he claimed deduction under section 48(cost of acquisition) in respect of the interest on housing loan taken for purchase of house.

• AO disallowed deduction under section 48 on the grounds that assessee had already claimed deduction of such interest under section 24(b) and hence the same could not be deducted under section 48 for computation of capital gains.

HELD

• A perusal of sections 24(b) and 48 makes it unambiguous that none of them excludes operation of the other.

• In other words, a deduction under section 24(b) is claimed when concerned assessee declares income from 'house property', whereas, the cost of the same asset is taken into consideration when it is sold and capital gains are computed under section 48.

• There is not the slightest doubt that the interest in question is indeed an expenditure in acquiring the asset.

• Since both provisions are altogether different, the assessee in the instant case is certainly entitled to include the interest amount at the time of computing capital gains under section 48 of the "Act".[2012] 27 taxmann.com 104 (Chennai - Trib.)- Source Taxmann.