The Hindu Business Line : Tick to tickle the accountant whom everybody else ticks off

HOW do you tell an accountant in a crowd? Well, he's the balancing figure, after you're finished with everybody else. No flattering description, this is, of the proverbial number-cruncher, who is recognised more for his ability to pore over rows and columns of numbers than to enliven his surroundings.

Cut the jokes, because the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has decided that enough is enough. "To enhance the brand image of Indian CA firms," it has recommended that the accounting flock be "permitted to use the symbol on their professional stationery and seal". According to a recent communiqué from the profession's regulator, the symbol should be registered with the `competent authority' that would say `right' for the right tick. The ICAI president has been authorised by the Executive Committee "to finalise the design of that symbol in consultation with artist/designer."

My only fear is that the symbol, after much effort that the Institute is planning to put in, doesn't end up trashed, like `Monday' that was born with much fanfare only to disappear into IBM. The positive side to the latest development in the accounting body is the search for creativity and identity, often taken as long lost. The very pursuit of a brand, dead or alive, shows that the profession is not brain dead.

Tick, as the Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines, is a mark used to indicate that an item in a list or text is correct or has been chosen. Disturbingly, tick is a parasitic arachnid that attaches itself to the skin, from which it sucks blood. Ticks are seen as auditors' but are auditors seen as ticks by clients? Tick is also a fabric case stuffed with feathers or other material to form a mattress or pillow, to give comfort, as much as the CA's tick is supposed to. Ticker is the hapless audit assistant, and also the heart and the strip of message that flows at the bottom of the TV screen.

With tick as the mark of our profession, isn't it demeaning to be seen as a bunch of tickers, if not ticks? Because one always thought that the skill of the auditor lay, not in affixing ticks everywhere, but in finding the flaws and expressing his annoyance in the form of a frowning mark, such as a simple cross. Tick-supporters may argue that it is the CA's tick that counts and stands out in a whole jungle of what others may be too eager to provide.

Tick is a sign of power of the auditor, they'd argue. True, CA firms are known to have their own trademark tick patterns. Novice apprentices usually labour with lilac pencils trying to master the correct angles for okay, doubtful, double-checked, and such other situations. Tick, therefore, is meant to tell a whole story of how the staff did the audit when their boss came to see the books later on.

I'm not intent on ticking off those engaged in the development of tick as the new art form, but in truth the tick sign is too routine to inspire any new association. "Good brand images are instantly evoked, are positive, and are almost always unique among competitive brands," is what www.asiamarketresearch.com has to say, though it is remote that a tick we may sport, after time ticks by, will stir up some unique memories in the minds of our clients.

"How could nursing improve its public image?" For `ideas on rebranding' this profession see the site www.nursing-standard.co.uk. There, Colin Parish writes: "Judging by recent negative press coverage, nursing's image could benefit from a makeover. While the profession is generally well regarded by the public, nurses believe many of its prevailing stereotypes are outdated. An improved public image could boost staff morale, enhance the work they are doing and entice others to pursue a career in nursing or return to practice." Is accounting too suffering from a similar malaise?

I guess there must be some think-tank experts proposing the idea of a uniform for CAs, like the black coat and tie for advocates. Or, an accessory to don, akin to doctors sporting steths, swamijis carrying rosaries, engineers lugging T-squares and so on. But a frank comment in the `nursing' article can wound: "With any brand, if the reality is not positive with consumers there is nothing you can do apart from changing the reality, otherwise it's like putting lipstick on a pig."

When the tick arrives to tickle us all, we'll have to lobby for more places to place the mark on than mere stationery and seal.

AccountSpeak@TheHindu.co.in

D. Murali

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