Mr. S is a practising Chartered Accountant based out of Chennai. During the weekends, he involved himself in equity research and used to advise his…

Given situation can be visualize in following parts: (i) Mr. S used to involve himself in equity research and used to advise his friends, relatives and other known people: As per the recent decisions taken by the Ethical Standards Board of ICAI, a Chartered Accountant in practice may be an equity research adviser, but he cannot publish a retail report, as it would amount to other business or occupation. In the given case, though Mr. S is involved in doing equity research and in advising people, it is clear that he does not publish any retail report of his research. Hence, this act of Mr. S shall not make him guilty of professional misconduct. (ii) Mr. S is involved in paper-setting for the Accountancy subject in the school where he studied. He also owns agricultural land and does agriculture activities: As per Clause 11 of Part I of First Schedule of Chartered Accountants Act and regulation 190A of Chartered Accountants Regulations, a Chartered Accountant in practice is deemed to be guilty of professional misconduct if he engages in any business or occupation other than the profession of Chartered Accountant unless permitted by the Council so to engage. Further, Regulation 190A mentions the 'Permissions granted Generally' to engage in a certain category of occupations, for which no specific permission of Council is required. Those cases include: Valuation of papers, acting as paper-setter, head examiner or a moderator, for any examination.Owning agricultural land and carrying out agricultural activities. Therefore, in the given case, the activities of Mr. S as a paper-setter and involvement in agricultural activities do not make him guilty of professional misconduct. (iii) Mr. S was discharged insolvent: Disabilities for the Purpose of Membership: Section 8 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 enumerates the circumstances under which a person is debarred from having his name entered in or borne on the Register of Members, If he, being a discharged insolvent, has not obtained from the court a certificate stating that his insolvency was caused by misfortune without any misconduct on his part. Here it may be noted that a person who has been removed from membership for a specified period shall not be entitled to have his name entered in the Register until the expiry of such period. In addition, failure on the part of a person to disclose the fact that he suffers from any one of the aforementioned disabilities would constitute professional misconduct. The name of the person, who is found to have been subject at any time to any of the disabilities discussed in section 8, can be removed from the Register of Members by the Council. In the given case, it is clearly stated that Mr. S is discharged insolvent, and he has also obtained from the court a certificate stating that his insolvency was caused by misfortune without any misconduct on his part. Hence, Mr. S has not violated the provisions of section 8, and he is not debarred from having his name entered in the Register of Members.