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STORY so far: There is a showdown in the office between Gupta and Kiran, at the end of which Kiran decides to quit. But I intervene to suggest if Kiran could work in a different department. Fortunately, both the men see some sense in the suggestion.

Episode 73

A day after the high-decibel slanging match between Gupta and Kiran, I appraised the boss of the need to shift Kiran from his present department. "He has all the time to learn," said the boss. "I know his professor very well. We used to play tennis in the club."

I suggested a replacement for him in Gupta's department. "Okay," said the boss, "unless Gupta wants Kiran out immediately."

********

I am not used to dealing with personnel problems, apart from somebody going on leave or coming late, in which case some amount of persuasion usually works well. For instance, there was this case of Balaji, a staff in my department, who was habitually arriving 15 minutes late to work, and the HR chief was getting a memo prepared for him, I spoke to Balaji to find out his problem. He was depending on public transport and getting held up by the traffic jam on Kodambakkam bridge.

"Get a two-wheeler," I said. "That will solve your problem." He said, "But, Swati, it is expensive." Over the next 15 minutes, I spoke to ICICI and got them to sanction a vehicle loan at rock-bottom interest and during lunch we went to the nearest Honda dealer to book a bike. "Do you have a licence?" I asked Balaji. He nodded. "I got my licence two years back but never imagined I would drive my own vehicle." The vehicle was `for registration' but he could drive it home that day.

A moment of great happiness for him, I could see. When I had got my first wristwatch, I was on cloud nine, I remembered. Well, to continue Balaji's story, from then on, he has been coming to office at least half an hour early. You can't expect your HR department to be sympathetic to employees' problems; they normally go by the rulebook, and don't hesitate to bring the axe down on hapless staff's necks, like self-appointed hangmen. At times, your colleagues may help you out of problems, faster.

********

During the week, I spent a few hours with Chandru, trying to find out what tasks were pending and what projects were yet to start. "First, the accounting manual," said Chandru. "It has been years since I wanted to bring out an accounting manual for the whole company, something that all branches can adopt." I made a note of it in my notepad, and asked, "Next?" Chandru went on to explain how there was this urgent need to take a relook at the chart of accounts and create heads for newer activities.

"Without appropriate classification, we are not able to get data useful for decisions," he said. That's a fact most managers face each day, so they usually give up even thinking about the accounting department as a source of relevant inputs when critical issues hang fire. As much as one feels lost when a library is in total disarray.

I remember how, during my audit days, a company had wanted to know how much had been spent on employee development. They were preparing their nomination papers for a national award for employee development and expenditure on this head was one of the points to be filled up in the form. When the query came to the accounting department, I found they were too perplexed, because the only accounts they had were for salaries, canteen expenses and company bus maintenance.

"You can't call salaries employee development," I had told the accountant. "Nor can you rename canteen account as that." The accountant was worried, "What do I tell the chief?" I said, "The truth — that you don't have the numbers." The company missed the deadline for filing the nomination and so lost a possible award too.

Not a story, but a simple example to illustrate the paradox of too much but too little. Volumes of ledgers and files of vouchers, plus reams of printout, scores of pencils and so on give one the impression that the accounting department is the repository of all knowledge. May be, yes; but when what you need is pointed information, the whole bundle of knowledge becomes a blurred total.

You can trace the roots of this problem to the purpose that accounting served, to start with — as a measure of control. It was never born to help make decisions. And that legacy has got stuck.

********

Midweek I got Kiran and Chandru to meet over the new assignment. I was playing the role of a facilitator, you may say, or was simply getting a change from my usual work. However, the two-hour session we three had in Chandru's room was energetic. Much to my surprise, Kiran had interesting ideas about accounting. "I never imagined you management students would ever know the rules of double entry," I said. "But what I am talking about is not the nuts and bolts of accounting, which any software should be able to handle," Kiran replied. "What we have to first do is to codify information requirements and simply transport the same to the chart of accounts."

Chandru interrupted, "But we should have those account heads that are mandatorily required." I nodded for emphasis. Kiran explained, "Yes, we should. I'm not disturbing ESI, PF and such accounts. But when it comes to core operations of company business, we should have our record-keeping so pucca that we can answer any question at the press of a button." I asked, "Such as?" Chandru volunteered, "Travel expenses, telephone charges and so on." Kiran shook his head, "Much more than that, I'd say. Travel, we know, is of many types. Can our present system give expenses incurred department-wise? Or, travel incurred for gathering results of a drug that is in the test phase?" Chandru said, "I'd have to put a clerk behind the job." Kiran emphasisesd, "No, that wont' do." He went on with more examples and I was feeling queasy about the lacunae in the present accounting format.

********

Do you think accounting can answer the modern manager's informational requirements? Send in your thoughts by Friday.

(To be continued)

Swati_CA@hotmail.com

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