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Role of CAs in Survey Profession after Privatisation & Categorisation with special Emphasis of Fire & Misc. Claims (Insurance Sector)

A Chartered Accountant can play a vital role in the profession of Surveyor. This is so because the survey and assessment of Insurance Claim is primarily connected with the determination of correct figures, which strengthen the necessity of CA in the surveyors profession.

Earlier, the Insurance Sector in India was in an unorganized shape. There were a large number of Surveyors in the field, who could even be basic graduates or diploma holders with some minimum Insurance qualification and they were handling any type of claim, which they may otherwise not competent enough to handle. In such crowd, the CA in the profession were not getting their due share of recognition in terms of quality and type of work they should have been handling commensurate with their sound financial knowledge. A Chartered Accountant Surveyor had to travel in the same boat as an Engineer, when the both were involved in, say loss of profit claims, banking losses, etc.

Role of CAs in Survey Profession

With the regularization of the Insurance Sector, the IRDA has came in to existence and the Insurance Act, 2001 was passed. This allowed entry of Private Players into the Insurance Industry, which was earlier dominated by the Govt. Companies. This has brought more competition into the industry and new products have been introduced, especially in the misc. category, such as the Credit Rick Insurance, which again requires professional handling of such losses and analysis of figures and necessitates involvement of a CA.

The private insurance companies are manned by the most professional people, especially at Strategic positions of claim handling even the Govt. companies have identified the importance of professionals at such positions, and accordingly made necessary rotations in their organization.

This is another welcome step for a Chartered Accountant Surveyors since their most objectively mad reports with strong financial bases are now accepted in a better light, which has again helped to strengthen the position of CA’s in this field. The non understanding with which the reports of a CA were looked at, has been greatly reduced and there is a more professional approach in understanding of their report, as they are at the same wavelength.

The introduction of categorization is another welcome step in my opinion, which however, has been criticized by some people. This has lead to a more rational allocation of the survey work as per the qualifications.

This has enabled to get recognition to us, as professionals and the importance in the fire and misc. (especially theft losses) category is highlighted.

I feel, the CA are the most competent professionals for these two category of losses. These losses involve complete verification of books and records, analysis of various financial data and past performances, determination of the most appropriate costs and identification of the cost components.

Further, it also requires thorough knowledge and application of rules and regulations of Indirect Taxes such as in respect of excise/custom duty or cenvat duty. Cenvat credit, remission of duties, import/export procedures, excise records and so on.

Likewise, familiarity with sale tax & income tax laws and accounting standards, such as the AS –2 on valuation of inventories, are also utmost importance.

All the above elements are very crucial to determination of the correct and most objective assessment of the fire and misc. claims.

And there is no better professional than CA in this field, who can, not only make the most objective assessment of loss, but will also be most competent to curb the inflated and fraudulent losses, because of strong financial background. Provided by our qualification.

However, the CA also has to help of certain other professionals such as Architects for correct determination of building losses under fire claims.

The Misc. category however provides a wider scope for the Chartered Accountants, they are the only professionals who are equipped to handle the losses of banks, stock exchanges and credit risks, etc. we are the specialist in these fields.

Likewise, there is another exclusive field for the CAs in the form of LOP losses in which the CAs are the only competent persons to handle such losses as it again requires an in-depth of financial information. Thus, the importance of CAs in fire and misc. claims cannot be over emphasized.

The categorization has helped to ensure that the CAs are given the due share of work for such category of losses, since they are the most competent professionals.

The categorization will also help in grooming of fresh CA entrants into the field, by way of undergoing the training under a more competent, qualified and experienced surveyor. This will also ensure availability of true professionals for the future in this industry. No doubt this will be a service to the nation also.

Now doubt, there are other professionals such as engineers and architects, whose services are also important like in engineering losses and building losses and the CA surveyor are also coordinating with them, where their technical expertise is required, so that a fair assessment of loss is ensured.

Still, I feel that the CA has a much wider role to play in the field of survey, since the ultimate objective is correct determinations of figures and there is no better person them in CA to do so.