Mr. Ramesh, a practicing Chartered Accountant and partner at RR & Associates, recently ordered a new set of visiting cards and letterheads for…

As per Clause (7) of Part I of First Schedule to the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, a Chartered Accountant in practice will be deemed to be guilty of professional misconduct if he advertises his professional attainments or services, or uses any designation or expressions other than the Chartered Accountant on professional documents, visiting cards, letter heads or sign boards unless it be a degree of a University established by law in India or recognized by the Central Government or a title indicating membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants or of any other institution that has been recognized by the Central Government or may be recognized by the Council. Further, Chapter XVI for Logo of Council General Guidelines, 2008 prescribes the following guidelines for CA members: There should be no alteration of the font (colour, bold/unbold, size). Moreover, there should be no change in spacing and dimensions.Do not change the design and colours including the white background.Refrain from rotating or tilting the logo clockwise and anti-clockwise.The logo should not be shrunk or distorted changing the original proportion. In the given case, CA. Ramesh made changes in the CA India logo to make the cards attractive. He changed the background colour from white to grey to match the firm's theme, reduced the size of the logo to fit into a smaller space on the top-right corner of his cards, replaced the word "India" in the logo with his firm's initials, and added a gradient effect to the blue colour in the letters "CA". Hence, CA. Ramesh will be held guilty of professional misconduct due to violation of the Council General Guidelines and Clause (7) of Part I of First Schedule to the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949.