By Pradeep A. Shah, Chartered Accountant
Article
Retirement — what is retirement ? Chartered accountants just
do not know the meaning of this term ‘retirement’. Hence the statement —
chartered accountants ‘never retire, but they just fade away’. The irony is that
even when they retire — either because of commitments or circumstances, they
still continue to be involved with ‘accountax’. They never truly retire.
Talking of retirement reminds me of this story of Henry Ford.
When asked a question : “When are you going to retire ?” His reply was “Only
after I cease being useful — which stage I will never attain.”
Chartered Accountants also seem to believe that they will
never cease to be useful.
Thinking about retiring takes me almost 40 years back in
time. I met a German equivalent of a CA who was well past 65 and yet quite
active. On being asked by me as to why he was not retiring, his reply was :
“Young man, in my country a CA can never afford to retire
on what he makes and so must it be in your country too.”
Passage of time, and years of experience have confirmed the
truth of these words. A CA cannot afford to retire on his earnings. Most of us
continue to work as we cannot afford to retire both economically and even
emotionally.
Once again my mind slips into the past and memories of my
articleship days come flooding, reminding of an instance when I was appearing
for my C.A. finals. My father came to drop me at the centre. He met a friend who
asked my father as to why he was at the centre. “I have come to drop my son” was
his reply. My father asked the same question to his friend as to why he was at
the centre, “My children have come to drop me for the Exam.” was his prompt
reply. He did ultimately clear the Exam. What perseverance ! What
determination !
How could this friend of my father ever think of retirement ?
So much efforts go into being a CA that one has to work for
many many years to recoup his investment in terms of time and money. Perhaps
that is why a CA cannot think of retirement.
Retirement is also not conceivable, because a chartered
accountant loves his profession and it is very difficult to get over ‘love’ — a
life-long relationship. CA’s relationship with the profession, especially that
of my generation, can be compared to an arranged marriage. In an arranged
marriage you fall in love after marriage and live in devotion till ‘death do –
us – part’. A relationship with a client might start on a professional basis,
but it matures into a personal bond and the CA is virtually treated as a member
of the family. Even in his senility and dreams he thinks of how best he can
serve his clients. Ask an accountant : when he will retire and I am sure the
reply will be : Retirement is fifteen years away and he will also raise the
question :
Please tell me to what should I retire to !
We as CAs are so committed to work that we forget our
families, our friends and everything and give first place in our life to our
work. I will illustrate with a story. I heard this one, decades ago at one of
our conferences : ‘There was a chartered accountant. He was totally committed to
his work. He would leave early morning and come back late at night. One day
someone told him that while he was sweating away at office, things were going on
behind his back in his home . . . . indicating that someone was visiting his
house and a clandestine affair was going on behind his back. He was enraged. He
decided to put an end to this matter. Next day after leaving home at 8 a.m.,
instead of going to the office he climbed a tree in front of his house with a
gun in his hands, waiting for ‘that’ person to come. 9 O’clock — no one, 10
O’clock — no one . . . Yet he waited patiently. However at 12 Noon, he suddenly
realised that he was not even married !’
Work is CA’s life, his reason for existence. This is
exemplified by a chartered accountant friend of mine. Apart from being a
successful practitioner, he is an eminent writer, a musician of repute and a
very knowledgeable person. In one of his articles he confessed that whenever he
saw a picture of a beautiful and gorgeous film star like Mallika Sherawat or
Katrina Kaif, his imagination ran riot and his first thought was of what could
be her Permanent Accountant Number ?
How can such a person ever think of retiring from the
profession? Without work he would be like fish out of water . . . He would start
gasping for breath.
There is a story of a senior citizen. He, a widower, would
visit his lady friend daily and spend his evenings with her. This went on for
years. A friend like me suggested that he should marry her. His response was,
“Well, I have considered this many a time. But if I marry
her how do I spend my evenings . . . . ?
The dilemma of a CA is similar : how does he spend his time
after retirement ?
I think that in the ultimate analysis, a CA goes on working
all his life, first to make both ends meet, then later perhaps for the ‘fame and
name’, and still later because it has become a habit which he cannot break and
also because he does not know what else to do.
Another friend of mine, a retired accountant, who recently
retired, was sarcastically questioned by a friend at an office gathering :
Q. How to you spend your time as you are no longer changing
‘figures’.
Ans. Hitting golf balls and cracking nuts.
However, he went on to add : “The benefits of retirement are
— I don’t have to comment on :
- The implied and intended violations of law
- Deviations from standards
- Violations of ten commandments of S. 227
- Values being fair
- On affairs being ‘true and fair’
- and above all on ‘frauds committed by you.’
A thousand years ago Shankaracharya lamented in ‘Bhaja Govindam’ as under:
“The body has become worn out. The head has turned gray. The mouth has become toothless. The old man moves about leaning on his staff. Even then he leaves not the bundle of his desires.”
He laments that no one at any age has time for God. Let us listen to his advice and seek God before it is too late in our life.
We have one shining example to follow. Shri N. V. Iyer, a person renowned in our profession, retired from the profession when he had reached great heights and he completely cut himself off from the profession from the day of the retirement itself to follow higher and nobler pursuits.
Let us then have courage to retire at a proper time and follow the higher path. Let us prove that CAs also can retire and need not just fade away in oblivion.
I would conclude :
Some of us fear that retirement may lead to senility. We forget that retirement is an opportunity to put life into our years – do what we missed – revive our hobbies and our relationships, discover old and make new friends. Life after retirement can be equally challenging. Retirement is also an opportunity to be creative, to do something we haven’t done during our working years. We can on retirement seek a blend of ‘client service’ and ‘service to profession’ or better still blend ‘service to profession’ and ‘service to society’. As Albert Einstein said :
‘The highest destiny of individual is to serve’.
Let us learn to retire, contribute to society and seek our real growth rather than fade away.
