UDIN authentication mandatory for documents certified by CAs

Pune: To curb the malpractices in the profession of Chartered Accountants (CA), Professional Development Committee of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has implemented an innovative concept of UDIN i.e. Unique Document Identification Number. This will help secure and identify the validity of certificates/documents issued or attested by CA.

CA SB Zaware, Central Council Member and Chairman, Accounting Standards Board of ICAI, said, “It has been noticed that financial documents/certificates attested by third person misrepresenting themselves as CA members are misleading the authorities and stakeholders. UDIN has been introduced to secure the certificates/documents attested/certified by practicing CAs. This will enable the regulators/banks/third parties to check the authenticity of the documents. UDIN is an 18-digit system generated unique number for every document certified/attested by practicing chartered accountants. In India, only 1,10,000 CAs have authority to give this certificates.”

He said, “Certificate without UDIN will be considered unauthorised and action can be taken against the concerned person. ICAI has decided to make UDIN mandatory with effect from February 1 in a phased manner by making all certifications done by practicing chartered accountants while all reports like GST audit, tax audit and all other attest functions will be made mandatory at a later stage.”

Features of UDIN portal 

• Only CAs having full-time Certificate of Practice (CoP) can register on the UDIN portal and can generate UDIN.
• No document is required to be uploaded for generating UDIN.
• There is no fee for registration and generation of UDIN.
• There is no limit on the generation of UDIN and there is no restriction on the number of UDIN to be generated.