India: Accounting and Audit

Most businesses have become comfortable with UAE corporate tax filing by now.  The deadlines are on the calendar, the forms are familiar, and finance teams are well into the rhythm. What fewer businesses have stopped to check is whether the accounting software they're running can actually keep up with what's coming next.  This includes everything from transfer pricing schedules to the phased rollout of e-invoicing.  This guide explains what that readiness actually looks like for finance directors, SME owners, and compliance officers working through UAE corporate tax compliance right now.

Few areas of Indian corporate governance have witnessed such sustained regulatory tightening as related party transactions ("RPTs"). The Companies Act, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 ("LODR Regulations"), and a steady stream of SEBI circulars (most recently the Industry Standards on Minimum Information for RPT approval ) have together created a framework that is both rigorous and unforgiving. The framework is built on a single premise: RPTs must be approved before they are entered into — not after.

For many finance teams, the warning signs are familiar. The month-end close often stretches beyond ten days. Different versions of the same profit and loss statement get shared over email, and no one has a clear idea which is the latest file. A single minor change to a formula in a spreadsheet can disrupt the entire consolidation. By the time someone notices the mistake, it might be too late.

Seller rollover is a familiar feature of private equity deals. In a typical US sponsor-led acquisition, the seller takes most of the price in cash and reinvests the balance in the post-acquisition business. The seller keeps exposure to future upside, and the sponsor keeps continuing shareholders aligned with the new owners.

Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (“CCPS”) are frequently used by companies to raise capital. Whether a mere accounting reclassification of CCPS from borrowings to share capital and securities premium as mandated under Indian Accounting Standards (‘Ind-AS’)— without receipt of any fresh consideration—can trigger taxation under section 56(2)(viib) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (“the Act”)?

In the September edition of our monthly newsletter “Legalaxy”, our team analyses some of the key developments in securities market, banking and finance, labour, foreign investment and maritime