The Hindu Business Line : Living expenses, bulging bills and dented budgets

STORY so far: It is when Chandru, Kiran and I meet that I realise the lacunae in accounting. On one side are managers who have to take decisions and need information that would be relevant, but on the other side are accountants who are busy record-keeping, blissfully unmindful of the purpose their data would serve, if at all.

Episode 74

The question I had raised last week was simple: "Do you think accounting can answer the modern manager's informational requirements?" It was only when I checked my inbox that I realised how people can become quite emotional on this apparently innocuous issue.

For instance, Narayan is angry that I shouldn't have raised such a doubt since I myself am an accountant. "Don't play same-side goal, for heaven's sake!" Well, I don't know much football, you see, though I am able to understand Narayan's sentiments. No, I'm not stabbing my own fraternity in the back, if that's his worry. Yet, some amount of introspection helps. Otherwise, we will be busy churning out reports and statements that nobody ever reads. What's the use? It will be like creating a gadget that doesn't hit the market but goes to the museum or, much worse, the junkyard.

Another mail is from Abby Thomas. "In my view and to the best of my information," he begins, and I am already sure he is a well-trained accountant. "We have an important role in the society. That is why law has made accounts and audit an integral part of corporate governance." He then reels off a few section numbers that I check with the bare Act and they're about record-keeping.

To put Abby's long message in short: "We are needed, otherwise law would not have recognised our profession." Okay, agreed, but can that alone become the justification for existence. What is the value-add we can claim as our own? Do we survive in form rather than in substance? What will we do if the crutch of law disappears, as already it is feared in some quarters?

Next letter is from Karuna and check his address if he is the one that Prabhakaran is after. No, my correspondent is from Vizag. "The trick lies in proper coding, Swati," Karuna tells me. Yeah, that's what Kiran also was telling me! "Once you are able to build your MIS requirements into your software, we accountants are not required. But don't tell this to anybody because we CAs will lose jobs!"

This is where our skills as trained professionals would come into play, I realise. A good infrastructure for informational requirements means the right innards are running in the boxes. Heavy doses of knowledge engineering would have to be implemented to translate rules and standards into the coding, as also to factor in all possible managerial decision-making. I begin to feel that if you were to work on a project like this at full steam, you may even pre-empt a question by having the answers ready first.

"Respected madam," writes in Ishwar Chand Paliwal, an MCA student of from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. That's a holy place I'd like to visit but let me find out what Ishwar wants. "I wanted to go in the investment banking field. Therefore, I've decided to do CA course, after completing MCA, along with the job." How's that possible?

"Ma'm, CA course would be helpful for investment banking field or not? If not, then which type of course one should pursue for this field? I don't have any interest in the IT field. But due to some reason I have to do MCA. Please give me some suggestions what will be better for me either doing CA course or something else course which is related to investment banking."

I think, Ishwar, you need to clarify what you understand by investment banking. CA course helps one grow in many ways, such as tax, accounting, finance, audit, and even administration. IT has become part of almost every activity, so don't dislike it. In fact, with your MCA knowledge, you'd be able to understand many things in technology that the non-MCA may find tough to grasp.

Already MCA is a post-graduate course, and at your level of motivation, it would not be advisable to chase the CA course by slogging another three years. Better get into a job, let's say in a firm of investment bankers, because that's something to your liking. Even if your job there were with computers rather than hardcore finance, you would gain valuable insight into operations and be able to reassess if your wishes were in fact your true aptitudes.

"Definitely accounting can answer the modern manager's informational requirements," writes Thangavelu. "You can bifurcate expenses into several heads to see which department is spending more." Right, you can do all sorts of hair-splitting but my worry is whether accountants look at analysis as solutions. More important, I feel, are the correlations, something that go beyond the scores of ratios we are taught in our CA course. "Swati, you said HRD can't be sympathetic to employee's problems," he continues. "Actually you are wrong. Do you know Russi Mody was so successful in Tata Steel because of the care that HRD could bestow?"

Karthik Narayan, a CA student, writes: "I do read ur column regularly in Business Line. Ur doing a great job yaar. Do keep up the great work... Lotsa love and luck." Oh, thanks, Karthik.

Then, there is this mysterious Ramkrishna Guduru, who I thought went out of orbit after the presidential elections in the ICAI, but he finds his exile too unbearable, so he keeps doing public service by alerting everybody about accounting bad news. I am in his address book, along with archana@ ndtv.com, azim.premji@ wipro.com, sebi@ sebi.gov.in, council@ icai.org, editor@ accountingweb.com, fm@ finance.nic.in, gooptu@ business-standard.com, guru@ gurumurthy.net, harrybaul@ yahoo.com, jairam@ jairam-ramesh.com, kbose@ sansad.nic.in, and so on. In fact, the list is too long and I don't know if osama@ torabora.com is also down there somewhere! Shiv used to send some original stuff, but this time he is too lazy so there is a hackneyed joke about market tactics. "You see a gorgeous girl at a party." That's not me. "You go up to her and say, `I am very rich. Marry me!' That's direct marketing." Then Shiv goes on to explaining advertising, telemarketing, public relations, and brand recognition, at which point the girl gives a hard slap, and that's customer feedback. Quite positive.

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On Friday, after a routine week in office, I went to make my usual purchases of provisions, cosmetics and so on. At the cash counter, I had swiped my card and busily collected all the items. It was only when arranging the things in my bike for transporting that I found something to my dismay. The bill was fattening gradually, over the weeks, though I am a conservative buyer who doesn't fritter away money on unnecessary cosmetics.

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Do you think our outflows for domestic requirements are swelling? Send in your thoughts by Friday.

(To be continued)

Swati_CA@hotmail.com

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