The Hindu Business Line : Take the knowledge cover before heading to the Great Wall

A COMBINATION of plenty of people growing richer, and the emergence of a friendlier insurance regime has made China too good to resist, writes Sam Baillie, Editor of China Law & Practice in Insurance Law in China, from Asia Law & Practice distributed by Bharat Book Bureau (www.bharatbook.com).

There were 53 insurance companies in the PRC (People's Republic of China) in 2002, compared to one in 1995, and the annual insurance premium income has risen from Rmb460 million 1995 to Rmb226.3 billion through the first three quarters of 2002, informs Dr Xu Guojian of Boss & Young, Shanghai. Wish the book provided more current statistics.

The book provides a translation of the bare Act of the revised PRC Insurance Law, Article-wise. For example, Article 60 stipulates that the insurer shall not resort to litigation to require payment of insurance premiums for insurance policies of the person.

The most obvious change brought in by the New Procedures (the Administration of Representative Offices in China of Foreign Insurance Institutions Procedures) is the adoption of the phrase `foreign insurance institutions' instead of the former `foreign-invested insurance institutions,' explains Guojian.

The final chapter titled `Stock market access paves the way for new utilisation of insurance funds' notes that insurance institutional investors may directly purchase most renminbi common stock (except for eight specific types) in the primary market or trade the same in the secondary market. Cap on stocks in a listed company held by an insurance institutional investor is 30 per cent of the company's common stock.

"Accounting methods for convertible corporate bonds and investment proportions for certain insurance products such as investment-linked products and universal products are also specified in the Tentative Procedures," states Guojian.

A book for the China-bound!

Demand more of quality audits

WHY do organisations conduct internal quality audits? Before answering `why', John E. (Jack) West and Charles A. Cianfrani fret that many organisations just don't get the question right. These organisations conduct such audit "because ISO 9001 requires them and for no other reason," write the authors in Unlocking the power of your QMS, from Pearson Power (www.pearsoned.co.in).

"Top managers have never embraced the concept of auditing with the same fervour as they have embraced other management tools such as Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, TQM and SPC," say the authors, finding it unacceptable especially since "the general concept of auditing is firmly embedded in management thinking."

The book speaks of the paradox of how the management embraces financial auditing which has its focus on `the health of the books and what happened yesterday', and ignores quality auditing "which is focussed on the health of the products and services the organisation delivers to customers, and is forward-looking."

West and Cianfrani are optimistic that we can train auditors to look for best practices. "If we do not make the identification of best practices a management expectation of auditing, it will not happen," they insist. "If it is an expectation, surprising positive results often occur." The authors also speak of how auditors help in `cross-fertilisation of knowledge and practices' and also look for `consistency across the organisation'. For all this, "organisations should select only the best and the brightest to be auditors." Any candidates?

A book that holds the `keys to business performance improvement'.

Economics of education

THE number of illiterates in India is larger than what the country's population was when we gained Independence. "There cannot be a greater testimony to how we have failed our children," writes Santosh Mehrotra in The Economics of Elementary Education in India, from Sage (www.indiasage.com). Four States with `the worst record on elementary schooling and literacy', viz. UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, and MP, "will, by 2016, account for nearly 44 per cent of the total population," states the author, to highlight the relationship between illiteracy and population growth.

One of the chapters in the book, written by Sunil Ray, discusses `household costs' of schooling in Rajasthan. "Average expenditure of the rural household per child attending government schools is more than that of the urban household, despite development costs for urban students," states Ray. "The average household cost per child in government primary schools in rural areas is Rs 974 and Rs 796 in the urban area. It is Rs 1,113 for elementary education in rural areas and Rs 886 in urban areas."

The chapter on Tamil Nadu, by Jandhyala B. G. Tilak and A. M. Nalla Gounden, notes that in urban areas "the cost of studying in a private school is three times higher than that in a public school." Another statistic is that "fees and costs on books and uniforms/footwear constituted about three-fourths of the total household cost of elementary education in the State." Educative read.

Begin today — not someday

HANG loose; remember that flexibility is the key. Thus advises Roberta Roesch in Time Management for Busy People, from Tata McGraw-Hill (www.tatamcgrawhill.com). "No planning or timetable should be so rigid there's no way to do an about-face when the need arises," she adds. "Begin today — not someday," exhorts chapter 1. "There's no better time than the present to get an upper hand on time and begin to take increased control of your work and life." One of the first tips in the many `habits & strategies' Roesch provides is this: "Make sure you get up when you plan to by setting two alarms. Put both clocks across the room out of reach so you have to get out of bed to turn them off. Then stay up. This may be the one of the hardest things you have to do all day, but its pays time dividends."

What are you waiting for!

BooksOfAccount@TheHindu.co.in

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