As ICAI moves towards lifting its decades-old ban on advertising by CAs—a development confirmed to ETCFO—a bigger question is surfacing: Does India’s accounting profession need a complete overhaul to build globally competitive homegrown firms? While experts call the branding push a “step in the right direction,” they warn that without deeper reforms—such as revamping 75-year-old regulations, enabling firm mergers, and allowing greater operational freedom—India’s ambition to create its own accounting giants may remain elusive.