A Brief analysis or research on the importance of Finance/Accounts Dept

 

The Halo behind a Finance / accounts department :

The whole epistle or article is written just for going through when you would not be getting your morning motivator the News Daily, and would like to kill some time.

Even from ancient times where Kings ruled the de-facto No.2 has always been the Finance/Revenue/Accounts person and all others came down the ladder. Indians as we are, we are addicted to the habit of the age old practices. Just look when a Government is formed either at the centre or the state , all eyes are on who is going to handle the plum portfolio of Finance Minister, creating an  artificially created halo of making us believe that he/she is going to decide the destiny of the state or the nation. This has percolated now to the grass roots level be it a local co or an MNC. I am just sharing an unintended research based on my three decades plus work experience, albeit having worked in other fields apart from my parent field of finance.

Is Accounts a Rocket Science  :

A firm No.  Accounts is the least complex of all sciences. It revolves around the basic ground rules of double entry book keeping. To put in proper parlance , it just stresses that for every debit there is an equal and corresponding credit. Let me simplify it , for every left hand there is a corresponding right hand although the strength may vary but the features remain the same.( like an asset or a liability , like a sale or purchase or like an income or expense). The Accounts person just needs the basic common sense to see and distinguish which is left and which is right.

Then why this hype or importance or sainthood :

Unlike personnel involved in manufacturing/production , sales/marketing there is a set target and a SLA (Service Level Agreement) which can be measured and rewarded / penalized, the Accounts does have a SLA too ( Stretchable level Agreement).  It cannot be quantified or measured.  Then how do we create the importance to our community. We create a self created pressure of piling up bills and files and at the nth moment , creating an artificial image to the management that they are working under great pressure and stress. To put it lightly this might have triggered thoughts in the IT sector to create the platform of Artificial Intelligence in early eighties leading to great video games and animated movies.

Does that mean that this is dispensable community or workforce :

Whatever was written above is not a universal or sweeping statements. It applies to a particular section of this workforce who always live under a feeling of insecurity. The advent of  Main Frame Computers, Mini Frame Computers, MS-DOS, CPM, CCPM o/s, Dbase, FoxBase, Fox Pro,  in the late seventies was seen as a major threat like changing from a kurta-pyjama to formals, long and elephant sized books replaced by 9x12 and 12x15 continuous stationery. Ink in the pen were replaced by cartridges. These were seen as threats rather than tools that could put them on a higher pedestal. This was further enlarged by tools like Vbasic, Java, Oracle, SAP . This community has the unique wisdom of analysis, correcting, guiding etc. the growth map of a Company. To Salute the Late US President, I quote that an optimist is a person who sees an opportunity in every calamity and a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity. This is an indispensable workforce and a vital cog in the wheel and are the Doctors for the financial health of the Co., and a search light on the shores during the storm.

The only submission of mine is that change is the only constant factor in this Universe and let the mindset change.