It will now be easy for Indian chartered accountants to practise in Australia and those from Down Under to practise in India.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the body that regulates the profession of chartered accountancy in the country, and CPA Australia have inked a mutual recognition agreement that would recognise the qualification and give memberships to eligible CAs through a bridging mechanism (by appearing for one or more papers).

According to the MRA, ICAI members who are graduates will be eligible for CPA Australia membership after clearing a paper on business strategy and leadership.

On the other hand, CPA Australia members will be eligible for the ICAI membership after clearing four papers -- corporate laws, taxation, advanced auditing, professional ethics and financial reporting, if they have not already passed them as a part of the CPA Australia programme.

The agreement will come into effect on April 1, 2009.

"Indian CAs will now be able to practise in Australia, subject to fulfillment of certain locally applicable rules and regulations," said Ved Jain, president of ICAI. There are about 145,000 members registered with ICAI as on April 1, 2008, while CPA Australia has around 122,000 members.

ICAI plans to have similar agreements with Canada, Scotland and Ireland. It has already entered into an MRA with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales about two months ago.

The agreement provides for mutual recognition and examination arrangements for the members of the two largest institutes of the world.