UDIN: keeping the record of what ICAI issues

A UDIN is the 18-character number ICAI’s portal gives a Chartered Accountant for each document they certify. Lekhya Pramaan does not issue one, and cannot: you generate it on ICAI’s portal and register it here. Lekhya checks it was typed correctly, keeps your register, and ties the UDIN to the audit report you sign.

What a UDIN looks like

25234567AKTSRE1289

25
The year it was generated.
234567
The ICAI membership number of the member who generated it, padded to six digits.
AKTSRE1289
Ten letters and digits ICAI picks.

ICAI asks members to generate a UDIN for the documents they attest or certify, before signing, and to quote it with the signature. Which documents are covered is ICAI’s to say, and it changes: check the current directions on the portal. Lekhya’s list of document kinds is only for sorting your own register.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Generate it on the ICAI UDIN portal

    Sign in at udin.icai.org with your membership credentials and generate the UDIN for the document, before you sign it.

  2. 2

    Register it in Lekhya

    Open UDIN Register → Register UDIN. Paste the UDIN as the portal gave it: spaces and a leading “UDIN:” are ignored. Add your membership number, the date on the document, the kind of document, the client, and if you like the client’s PAN and the figures certified.

  3. 3

    Look at what Lekhya says

    A well-formed UDIN is saved and you are back at the register. If something looks off, you land on the entry with a note beside it (see below).

  4. 4

    Use it when you sign

    On an audit report, Sign asks for a UDIN from your register and a digital signature certificate. The report is then locked and shows the UDIN, and the UDIN’s page shows the report it is on.

What Lekhya checks

It will not save

  • A UDIN that is not exactly 18 letters and digits.
  • A UDIN that is already in a register. A UDIN belongs to one document.
  • A client PAN that is not shaped like one: five letters, four digits and a letter.

It saves, and tells you to look again

  • The member number inside the UDIN is not the one you entered.
  • The first two digits give a year that cannot be right.
  • It does not begin with eight digits, as ICAI’s do.

Lekhya does not contact ICAI. It can tell you a UDIN is well-formed, not that ICAI issued it, so confirm any you are unsure of on the portal.

A mistake, or a UDIN you no longer need

  • Typed wrongly in Lekhya. The number itself cannot be edited: a register that can be rewritten is not much of a record. Revoke the entry, giving “typed wrongly” as the reason, and register the right one. Both stay on the register.
  • Generated by mistake on the portal. Cancel it on the ICAI portal, which has its own rules and time limits, then revoke it in Lekhya with the reason. Revoking in Lekhya does not cancel it with ICAI.
  • Who, when and why are written to Settings → Audit Trail. A revoked UDIN cannot be put on a report. If it is already on a signed report, Lekhya warns you; that report is left as it is.

Pramaan is the CA edition of Lekhya. The rest of what it does is in the Lekhya Pramaan guide.