Practising chartered accountants must learn about the new format of financial statements for non-corporate entities from 1st April 2025. The ICAI’s guidance note on Financial Statements of Non-Corporate Entities will apply to those financial statements covering periods 1st April 2024 onwards. The objective is to ensure the standard formatting of financials, promote transparency, and allow comparability of statements. All such qualified professionals providing financial services to sole proprietors, HUF, partnership firms, associations, societies, trusts, and statutory corporations must apply this guidance note while preparing the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, etc. LLPs (Limited Liability Partnership) are excluded as these are considered corporate entities.Key Features of the ICAI New Balance Sheet FormatThe non-corporate entities balance sheet format includes key features to ensure high-quality financial reporting standards for non-corporate entities, as follows-Standardisation: The new format brings a uniform structure to financial statements, thereby keeping it consistent across all non-corporate entities.Revised Format: The balance sheet is better structured and simplified, divided into ‘Equity and Liabilities’ and ‘Assets’. It also segregates the non-current and current portions for both liabilities and assets.

You must have heard the phrase, any law is a good law as long as it is well implemented. Penalties and punishments are vital tools of law enforcement. Non-compliance with tax laws in India can attract heavy fines and legal actions against your business. In this article, we cover all penalties for non-compliance in India.What is Non-Compliance?When it comes to India, you have to adhere to many rules and regulations passed by the government. These include:Companies Act 2013Goods and Services Tax (GST) (introduced from 2017)Income Tax Act 1961The Factories Act 1948The Minimum Wages Act 1948Payment of Bonus Act 1965Contract Labor Act 1970KYC Policy of RBIDigital Personal Data Protection Act 2023Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999Insolvency and Bankruptcy CodeThese are just some of the regulations that you need to follow. If you fail to adhere to these laws, it results in non-compliance.Types of Non-Compliance of Tax LawsNow that you know what non-compliance is, it is time to understand the types of non-compliance in tax laws.

Have you seen a sports game? During the game, the players have to follow certain rules. But, referees are put in place to ensure everyone plays by the rules. Similarly, companies self-deploy mechanisms that operate as referees to assure compliance. In this blog, we cover everything you need to know about compliance assurance.What is Compliance Assurance?Various laws, rules, and regulations govern companies in India. Complying with them is non-negotiable for a company to run successfully.

Compliance as a Service is one of the cloud-based solutions through which compliance management is streamlined for your business. Cloud technology helps such innovative approaches make organisations implement compliance proficiently with the rising compliance needs, such as GST, e-invoicing, TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) and corporate law regulations.What is Compliance as a Service?CaaS is Compliance as a Service.Compliance as a Service is a cloud solution that assists companies in accomplishing some of the wide and growing lists of regulatory and industry requirements. Compliance management became much easier with the automation of many processes and real-time monitoring.What is Compliance as a Service in Cloud Computing? This CaaS works in tandem with cloud environments to ensure ongoing compliance, thus reducing the instances of non-compliance and any associated penalties accruing from it.Why Do Businesses Need Compliance as a Service, CaaS?Businesses need CaaS to help them deal with numerous dynamic regulations. The organisations do benefit since they minimise the expensive fines, protecting their reputation and effectively manage compliance. With the providers of CaaS, some of the compliance duties can be offloaded so that core business processes can be optimised while staying compliant.How do CaaS works?CaaS settles within a business infrastructure to help oversee compliance processes.

With the help of ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) processes, it became possible to process large amounts of data much faster. This modern approach differs from the ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) method and offers specific advantages in certain cases.What is ETL?ETL is an acronym for the three stages of Extract, Transform, and Load.ETL ProcessExtract: Information is gathered from source systems.Transform: The extracted data is formatted and structured for analysis and processing.Load: The transformed data is stored in a data warehouse or any other data storage system.Pros of ETLData Quality: Cleans and enhances the quality of data before loading.Control: Offers greater control over data transformations.Compliance: Supports compliance with the data governance regulations.Cons of ETLTime-Consuming: The transformation process can be lengthy. Resource-Intensive: The transformation step requires a significant amount of resources.Scalability Issues: May struggle to handle large data sets.ETL ExampleETL is typically applied in traditional data warehousing frameworks, where data collected from different sources is cleansed, transformed, and then loaded into a data warehouse for analysis. For example, financial institutions apply ETL mechanisms to gather transactional data from various systems put it into the data warehouse for reporting.What is ELT?ELT is an acronym that is an abbreviation for three processes, namely Extract, Load, and Transform.ELT ProcessExtract: Information is gathered from different source systems.Load: The extracted data is then transferred to the target system, which is mostly a data lake or cloud storage.Transform: The target system transforms the computation capacity of the data.Pros of ELTSpeed: Reduces calls to the data source since the data is loaded directly without prior manipulation.Scalability: This is more appropriate for large datasets due to the application of powerful cloud storage and computing.Flexibility: It makes it possible to perform individual transformations and analytics as and when required.Cons of ELTComplexity: The management of changes within the target system may not be easy.Data Quality: There is a possibility of having lower-quality data if the transformations are not handled properly.Compliance Risks: There may be difficulties in matters of data compliance and governance.ELT ExampleThe transformation that ELT offers is particularly well-suited to large-scale data architectures such as distributed data lakes, where the cloud’s computational capabilities can be utilised. For instance, firms employing Amazon Redshift or Google BigQuery transfer and load big data and transform the data as required for analysis.Key Differences Between ETL and ELTHere are some key differences between ETL and ELT:FeatureETLELTTransformationBefore loadingAfter loadingSpeedSlower initial loadFaster initial loadScalabilityLimited by ETL toolsHighly scalability with the cloudComplexityComplex to implement and maintain, especially with large data setsCan be simpler to manage but may require a more robust target systemUse CaseTraditional data warehousing, where data needs to be cleaned before loadingBig Data and cloud-based analytics, where raw data is loaded for transformation on-demandMaintenanceHigher maintenance effort due to complex ETL workflows Lower maintenance, as transformation logic is handled within the target systemData LatencyTypically operates in batches, causing delaysCan provide near-real-time data processing, depending on the systemComparison Between ELT and ETLETL and ELT are the two processes of data integration that are used for preparing data for analysis. They involve three primary stages: the process of obtaining data from different sources, cleaning the data to make it understandable for operational use, and then uploading this data into a data warehouse.

If data is the new oil, then definitely the engine it fuels is business intelligence. And every engine requires high-quality fuel to perform at its best. This article explains ETL as a critical process in the growing fields of data mining, data warehousing and business analytics. Stay with us to learn everything about what, when and how of ETL. What is ETL?The ETL full form is Extract, Transform and Load. It’s a process followed in data mining, extraction and warehousing, especially when data is being collected from multiple sources of varying data structures. The rules and principles followed in designing an ETL process depend on business use cases.

At every stage of a business, financial discipline plays a pivotal role in scripting the success story. In the absence of it, even with the best products and the team, a company may falter in achieving the desired goals. And general ledger reconciliation plays a driver’s role in practising financial discipline. This article explains what general ledger (GL) account reconciliation is, the processes and best practices.What is general ledger reconciliation?To understand what is reconciliation of the general ledger, we first need to learn about the concept of the general ledger.   Ledger in accountancy means a book in which accountants note down details of transactions. So, a general ledger is the book that records all the financial transactions conducted during business operations within a specific time period. Earlier, such ledgers were maintained in physical format.

Global regulations and accessibility are growing rapidly, and so is compliance risk for businesses. In this article, we will explore compliance risk meaning and list its types and examples. You will also learn about the top 10 compliance risks and discover the best practices for reducing compliance risk.What is compliance risk? Compliance risk can be defined as the potential damage that a business faces when there is a failure to comply with the industry standards, laws and regulations. There are both financial penalties and reputational damage associated with compliance risk. Also, whether an organisation is big or small, all are exposed to compliance risks.Types of compliance risksNow that you know what is compliance risk, let’s explore its types: Regulatory risks: This type of compliance risk arises when laws such as the Information Technology Act, the Personal Data Protection Bill, and the Companies Act are not followed.

‘Tax compliance’ is a simple-to-understand compound in English, but in legal parlance, it can have far-fetched implications for businesses. This article discusses everything that you need to know to stay on the right side of the tax laws. What is tax compliance?People often confuse tax compliance meaning using it interchangeably with tax payment. They think that paying tax is equivalent to complying with tax laws; but it may not be true in most of the cases. Any government aiming to mobilise tax revenues legislates a set of laws regarding applicability and levying of taxes on businesses. Tax compliance means the willingness of a taxpayer to abide by the applicable tax laws, file tax returns and pay due taxes within the stipulated time period. In this context, it is important to remember that tax compliance requires people to follow any tax law with its spirit and text.Importance of tax compliance Tax compliance for businesses is crucial for the below reasons:Legal necessity:It is legally obligatory for any business to comply with the tax laws as per the jurisdiction in which the business is operational.

Enterprise compliance is not only a legal necessity but also a strategic advantage in a fast-evolving regulatory landscape. CFOs and finance leaders must stay ahead of enterprise compliance duties. They are responsible for safeguarding their enterprise from risks, optimising operational efficiencies, and exploring growth potentials. In this article, let’s dive deep into enterprise compliance.What is Compliance?Compliance refers to following the laws, regulations, standards, and ethical practices prevalent in an enterprise. Understanding compliance meaning is crucial for businesses, as it involves adhering to regulations and standards that ensure legal and ethical operations. It ensures that an enterprise does business within the legal ambit.