CA Vijay Kewalramani in talks with Indiaforensic

Vijay Kewalramani, a practicing Chartered Accountant based in Mumbai, for the last 13 years speaks to Indiaforensic about his views on Forensic Accounting as profession. Most of his practice is spreaded into Internal Auditing and thus while undertaking such assignments, he is also involved in some fraud detection assignments of the clients

What do you see as some of the benefits of the Certified Forensic Accounting Program offered by Indiaforensic?
One gets a good insight about the basics of Forensic Accounting and the various ways of how to conduct a Forensic Audit. Indian forensic accounting manual also gives some beautiful case studies and examples, which are very practical and relevant in the day to day environment.

What is the future of Forensic Accounting Profession ?

With the Globalisation of economy, there are going to be many instances of Fraud and related activities like the Enron and Worldcom debacle and thus it would create very many opp0rtunities for Forensic Accounting and Fraud Accounting Professionals

What is the biggest fraud risk according to you for the organisations in India ?

The biggest fraud risk according to me is the growing decentralization and segregation of the roles of the Stakeholders and the executive in the Industries, which may lead to a good scope of fraud amongst the employees who may be given vast powers

What do you see as some of the major potential fraud problems in your Industry ?

The major threat that can be visualized is the connivance of the Professional Bodies and firms with that of the Clients in window dressing and manipulations like what happened to Arthur Anderson

Did CFAP benefited you professionally ?

I have recently acquired the CFAP Certification and the Manual sent to me is very informative and detailed and will definitely help me in my assignments.

Any guidance to the members willing to pursue the CFAP designation ?
I think, the members should go for it as this is going to be the highly demanded profession, especially with the rapid Globalisation going on, I have also presented a paper on "The Role of CAs as Forensic Accountants" which highlights the present and future opportunities for Forensic Accountants.

I would also request Indiaforensic, to take up the issue of empanelment of CFAPs as designated Professionals for conducting Fraud and Forensic Investigations at various forums and organisations like SFIO, EOW, IB, RAW etc.