India's Top 5 Accounting Scandals--

Recently we all have been hearing about the Satyam Scandal and its impact on the image of Indian IT industry.Here below are the India's top 5 Accounting Scnadals that have shocked the Indian market.

1. CRB Capital Markets Limited (1996) ,Amount-Rs 1200 crore

Fraud: Chairman Chain Roop Bhansali, was accused of siphoning off Rs 12 billion in the CRB scam. CRB was accused of using its SBI accounts to siphon off bank funds, claiming it was encashing interest warrants and refund warrants.

2.ITC – Chitalia's Fera Violation(1996) Amount - $80 million.

Fraud: In June 1996, ED started FERA investigation into the export transactions between ITC and the Chitalia group of companies (EST Fibres) during 1990- 1995.

3.Home Trade (2002) Amount - Rs 6000 cr

Fraud: Eight co-operative banks, like Valsad People's Co-operative Bank and Navsari Co-operative Bank from South Gujarat, collectively lost over Rs 80 crore due to bad investments by the Home Trade. It was also linked to Rs 82 lakh forgery in a central government undertaking EPF scheme.

4.DSQ Software (2003) Amount - Rs.595 crore

Fraud: Dinesh Dalmia's Company DSQ Software was accused of dubious acquisitions and biased allotments made in the year 2000 & 2001.

5.Nagarjuna Finance (2003) Amount : Rs 98.37 crore

Fraud: Executives of Nagarjuna Finance, an promoted by KS Raju, was accused of failure to return about Rs 100 crore to depositors in 1997-98.

Satyam Accounting Scandal a big blot on Indian IT industry--

An accounting fraud was the last thing investors in India would have imagined as a trigger for a reversal in investor sentiment. The Satyam accounting fiasco has come at a time when the sentiment is already brittle and is likely to affect the image of Indian companies among foreign portfolio investors. The accounting scandal that caused Satyam Computer Services Ltd. to collapse is shaking investor confidence in Indian stocks, putting an end to the market’s best start since 2000. This unfortunate development will be a short-term negative for market sentiment. The country's fourth largest IT company - after TCS, Infosys and Wipro - was for several years cooking its books by inflating revenues and profits, thus boosting its cash and bank balances; showing interest income where none existed; understating liability; and overstating debtors' position.

India’s Sensex index tumbled 7.3 percent (on Wednesday), led by a 78 percent plunge in Satyam. Satyam American depositary receipts fell $8.42, or 90 percent, to 93 cents before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, which then halted trading in the stock.

The Satyam scandal is spurring concern that India’s corporate governance is inadequate days before the earnings reporting season starts. What is SEBI for if it can't monitor business entities? Worries of thousands of employees and investors who have been left in crisis needs to be redressed immediately. The resignation of Satyam chairman Ramalinga Raju after confessing to have forged and inflated the company's accounts for years has sparked fears among the Indian IT firms. This is shocking, painful and a good warning for other companies in the sector.