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

AT TIMES, conference themes or seminar titles can sound odd. For instance, a seminar at the ICAI was titled: "Internal Audit and Fraud Examination — the helping hand of the CA," leaving one to wonder where the `help' was required. Similarly, the recent SIRC conference had `Beyond the profession' as its title, with visuals that showed greener meadows yonder.

Predictably, accountants are exploring newer areas even as the going gets tough, with war cries to rise "beyond the confines of the profession", and act as "the torchbearers of the path-breaking economic reforms" because "an onerous responsibility has been cast on us to empower society with the requisite knowledge, skill, sincere and sound advice so that it will be on the right track".

What is beyond doubt is that the general perception is that the profession is beyond repair, because many of its office-bearers cannot see beyond themselves; and if there is life beyond death, nobody wishes accountants to be reborn as accountants again.

That apart, there are at least two things of interest that happened at the conference. One was the sponsorship of the evening entertainment programme: The bill for the cine-music event was picked up by PriceWaterhouseCoopers Ltd. Its banner that greeted at the entrance sent a subtle message — `Relax, at the end of the day, it takes a big player to wind you down.' A similar support would not be forthcoming at a convention organised by the swadeshi CAs, campaigning to get the multinational firms out of the profession. It is common knowledge that any effort by local CAs to join hands to form a strong firm with diverse specialties would eventually meet its natural end — of getting thwarted by narrow interests.The other point is about Taj doing the catering. If a five-star hotel can enter the turf of local Bhavans, acharyas could condescend to cut the ribbon for TV shops, or superstars can stoop to run coffee kiosks, one can expect big firms gobbling up the clients of smaller players. A thought that could lead to indigestion.

hindubusinessline@hotmail.com

D. Murali

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
Comment on this article to BLFeedback@thehindu.co.in

Stories in this Section
Keeping them in the loop

Copyright © 2002, 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