BJP retains top position among richest parties; Congress losing ground fast

There are a set of accounting standards for commercial, industrial and business enterprises, and these accounting standards are issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Political parties fall under the commercial, non-industrial or non-business entities. Thus, the standard accounting formats of the other entities are not applicable to political parties.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) had requested recommendations from the ICAI to bring uniformity in the accounting and auditing practices of political parties. Thus, the “Guidance note on Accounting & Auditing of political parties” or the “Accounting guidelines” were formulated in February 2012 by the ICAI on