What are the rules that need to be taken care of while creating a professional website

Indian Chartered Accountants of India or ICAI is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament, viz. The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (Act No. XXXVIII of 1949) for regulating the profession of Chartered Accountancy in the country. The main functions of this body is to,

• Regulate the profession of Accountancy 
• Education and examination of CA course
• Continuing professional education of members 
• Conducting post qualification courses 
• Formulation of accounting standards 
• Prescription of standard auditing procedures 
• Laying down ethical standards 
• Monitoring quality through peer review 
• Ensuring standards of performance of members 
• Exercise disciplinary jurisdiction 
• Financial reporting review 
• Input on policy matters to Government 

Amongst the many listed responsibilities of this body, ICAI sets guidelines for websites. These are guidelines CAs need to follow in India to spread their work and services. There are some dos and don'ts to be followed by ICAI compliant websites. The dos of the website are, 

• Individual members also are permitted to have their web pages in their trade name.
• The CA should keep in mind that their website is based on the “Pull” model, not in “Push”, thereby, the person can only access the information of CAs and firms and the information should be provided only on the basis of specific “Pull” requests.
• The CA or firms should ensure that none of the information contained in the website be circulated on their own or through email or by any other mode or technique except on a specific “pull” request.
• The CAs would also not issue any other advertisement on the website. The CAs would be permitted to mention their website address on their professional stationery.

The following information is allowed to be displayed on the firms/members’ websites:

• Member/Trade/Firm name
• Login
• Year of an establishment 
• Firms address (both head office and branches)
• Telephone number 
• Fax number 
• E-mail ID
• Nature of services rendered (to be displayed only on specific “pull” request)
• Partners (Full details of a partner like a name, qualification and contact details)
• News 
• Jobs 
• Blogs

While these are the things a CA must do, listed below are the things that should be avoided during the design of the website.

• Mention of Names of clients/client logo.
• Writing of firm name in a manner tantamounting to logo/monogram.
• Mention of professional fees, or fact of providing services free of charge.
• Using photographs other than passport style, including event galleries of photographs. 
• Use of expressions such as “Leading Firm”/”Best Firm”/”Top Firm”
• Claiming to have liasoning with Government offices.
• Mention of activities forming other business or occupation, which are not allowed to members in practice e.g. Real estate, health, etc. 
• Links of organizations which do not fall under permitted categories e.g. of a commercial company. 
• Videos other than educational videos e.g. Firm profile, canvassing for elections etc. 
• Mentioning subjective claims e.g. “having presence/associates in big cities”,”have well equipped  conference rooms”,”best quality services in the market” etc. 
• Mention of media coverage of firm
• Mentioning testimonial with client name 

This list merely scratches the surface of the guidelines. There are many more dos and don'ts that require professional interventions. With the help of Izoe’s Website development services, you can rest assured that your website will adhere to ICAI guidelines in the best possible way. Izoe is at the beck and call of their clients to design the ideal website.