• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

STORY so far: I get an opportunity to interact with school students, exploring their nameless anxieties and half-baked notions. Better to be yourself, do your thing, and look within for satisfaction, I told them, just as I tell myself!

Episode 104

FOR those of you who may be wondering where I was all these days the answer is that I had an exam — the post-qualification course of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in information systems audit — to prepare for. My boss was kind enough to give me a month's leave, and I stole off to a friend's place to be able to study without being distracted. I'm sure that, as CA students most of you are cutting yourselves off from cable TV, social occasions and extracurricular activities to focus on the coming exam. If you aren't, my message is: You can't afford not to be focussed.

********

During the last few weeks, I was involved with a new department that has come up in my company, the 5S department, viz., Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke that translate to sort, set in order, shine, standardise, and sustain. You can pick up more from http://tpmonline.com. The philosophy works towards creating a better work environment. When a small group of us went round the company, equipped with a camera, there was resistance, both in the form of arguments and giggles. It is easy to fall into a we-they trap, but the 5S group followed the idea of collaborative development. Believe it or not, we found that work places were tidier when we went around for inspection the second time. And, very curiously, nobody seemed to miss the clutter!

********

That's why, when I visited Dina, a CA student in the neighbourhood, and saw his study table piled with study material, notes, revision test papers and so on, I exclaimed "Seiri!"

And I asked, quite seriously: "Hey, do you need all this stuff?" He looked at me and said, "Didi, the syllabus is vast, you see. What to do?" I pulled a chair and sat with him, "Okay, more accounting and auditing standards have been added since I passed the exam a few years ago, I agree. But tell me, can you separate out the papers and books you haven't touched in the last two months?" Dina was puzzled at my question, yet he started pulling out sheaves and tomes from the pile in front of him, and I suggested that he stack them on a shelf at the far end of the room. "That way, you get rid of the JIC — just in case — mentality that entices you to cling onto irrelevant things!" I said. With the desk lighter by more than half, I could see that he was heaving a sigh of relief. I said, "Well, Dina, that's the secret. You don't trek a hill with excess baggage, do you?"

********

A few days ago, I went to see my banker to get an attestation for shifting my phone. What does a bank have to do with landlines, you might wonder, but the telephone people have a queer Form that demands that the signature be verified by a Gazetted Officer.

The job took only a few minutes, but it was not before the officer had attended to a zillion other tasks that he finally attended to it. Before I left the premises, an old man whom I had seen in a neighbouring apartment block gave me a knowing smile and asked me if I knew that my account would be debited. I queried, "For what, uncle?" He said, "For the signature." I shook my head in disbelief and said that the manager didn't tell me he'd charge for the attestation.

The old man then pulled out his passbook to show me a debit in his account for Rs 25 and the particulars column read `Attestation'. He said, "I am one of the oldest customers of the bank and this is the service I get. The charge may seem petty, but it makes a difference to a retiree like me who lives on pension."

On the one hand, banks are frantically trying to build their brand image, while on the other they seem to be losing the goodwill of their loyal customers by adopting short-sighted practices, I thought. I wondered if it was all right for banks to charge for services that were all along given free.

"At this rate, they may debit our accounts even for the water we drink from their coolers and the time we spend within their air-conditioned offices!" remarked the old customer, as he left the branch.

I had read that morning on www.myiris.com that a majority of public sector banks had eroded their capital adequacy ratios due to lower profits in 2004-05, while some had managed to improve their financial health by tapping the capital and bond markets.

"Moreover, banks were affected by the higher provisions for NPAs, higher staff costs and lower profit growth on account of treasury losses," noted the story. Are they betting on making up through Rs 25 debits, I asked myself as I left for home. Send in your thoughts by Friday.

Swati_CA@hotmail.com

For archived episodes of this column click on: htpp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/nic/swati/index.htm

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
If you're serious, get out of the JIC mentality!

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line