The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has stressed the need for independent auditing of cooperative societies, various educational trusts and NGOs, saying it would bring down discrepancies in financial statements.

ICAI President G Ramaswamy said revenue of NGOs, cooperatives and educational trust had gone up manifold. "If government wants transparency then they should go for private audit like in Maharasthra and Gujarat, where it is being carried out in cooperative societies," he said.

He said ICAI had written to the Centre and other state governments on the practice in these two states.

He said chartered accountants are trained in information technology audit to carry out internal audits in societies. Their quality would be superior to local fund audit.

ICAI, he said, had also suggested internal audit and rotational audit for big companies which increases demand for CA practitioners.

He was speaking to reporters after laying the foundation stone for the Madurai Branch of the South India Regional Council of ICAI.

Ramaswamy said ICAI was strengthening infrastructure in all regional centres.The entrance exam system had been removed now and those who scored 55 per cent in B.Com could enroll for CA. Other graduates should score 60 per cent, he said.