Arjun: O Lord! I am tired of this Corona.
Shrikrishna: (smiles) Everybody is fed up and afraid!
Arjun: You are saying so! You are yourself the creator of everything including this Covid chaos. And you are smiling?
Shrikrishna: Dear Arjun, I am the Creator (Generator), Organiser and Destroyer of everything. That is why they call me ‘GOD’. Anyway, destruction is also one of my essential tasks.
Arjun: That reminds me. Over so many years of practice, I have ‘created’ so many files. Lot of paperwork. And many clients have discontinued more than eight to ten years ago.
Shrikrishna: Then why are you carrying all their records? Do I need to tell you that space is the most costly asset?
Arjun: This lockdown spoils the mood. Don’t feel like doing anything.
Shrikrishna: On the contrary. This is an opportunity for housekeeping, cleaning up work.
Arjun: Yes, you are right. Weeding out on mass scale is necessary. But there are no assistants. Even the offices have to be kept closed.
Shrikrishna: But there is one thing you are neglecting. One valuable asset that you are not utilising properly.
Arjun: What is that?
Shrikrishna: Manpower. Your articled trainees and your assistants.
Arjun: Oh! You are calling them an asset? We treat them as a liability.
Shrikrishna: Then why don’t you get rid of them?
Arjun: Ah! They do help us in audit, tax work. But they are not dependable. Articles have different priorities always.
Shrikrishna: Like what?
Arjun: Their coaching classes, exams, leave. And they lack sincerity. They don’t take interest in the work. They do only a superficial job.
Shrikrishna: But what efforts do you make to create interest in their minds? There is an obligation on you to train them. Do you really do it?
Arjun: Where is the time? We just send them somewhere for audit, or ask them to do data feeding for GST.
Shrikrishna: If you don’t have time, are there seniors in your office who can guide them?
Arjun: No. We can’t afford to have seniors. And I doubt whether they themselves are updated. Mine is a small firm.
Shrikrishna: Ok, please tell me, are you yourself updated?
Arjun: (No answer)
Shrikrishna: Remember, so many new things are coming up in your profession. You never had those things in your syllabus.
Arjun: True.
Shrikrishna: But your articles are studying those things. They know it better. They are also more tech-savvy than many of you.
Arjun: Agreed.
Shrikrishna: What is necessary is to guide them, motivate them, train them and arouse their interest in the work.
Arjun: Frankly, I don’t consider myself competent to teach them anything.
Shrikrishna: Don’t worry. You need not teach them technical things. But you can always share your experience with them. You have done so many audits. You can tell them what to see, what to ask for, how to see a particular thing.
Arjun: They cannot even write the queries.
Shrikrishna: Instead of writing routine queries, you must explain to them the implications of queries, the legal implications from the perspective of various laws.
Arjun: Like tax disallowances, company law, labour laws, FEMA…?
Shrikrishna: Right! They should feel that their work is meaningful and important. Today, they do it without taking much interest in it.
Arjun: I agree. But I am not an expert on these laws. We cannot afford such training sessions.
Shrikrishna: You have to combine three or four firms so that there is sufficient number of articles. You can invite experts from outside. In the process, you also learn.
Arjun: I understand what you are saying. Actually, training our staff is in our own interest. We cannot
check everything. Finally, we just put our signatures on the audit with a fear that there could be many blunders in them.
Shrikrishna: And then you get caught in disciplinary action!
Arjun: True. Prevention is better than cure. I am convinced that training the staff is an investment. It is for our own benefit.
Shrikrishna: But it should be like a workshop for limited numbers. Not a big scale lecture. Coaching classes may be teaching them theory. But you have to explain to them how to relate theory to practical work.
Arjun: And I think, even in the peer review, they see what we have done for staff training. Today I have realised that it is not only our duty to train the staff and articles, but it is in our own interest to do so.
Shrikrishna: Not only the articles, but even your administrative staff – clerks, receptionists, peons also need training. They should not feel monotony in their work. They should feel some change, some progress in life.
Arjun: And I should myself be more serious about updating and upgrading myself, I should not take CPE hours as a thing to be ‘managed’. Otherwise, I will soon become outdated and unfit to carry on practice.
Shrikrishna: While listening to the Geeta, you showed so much inquisitiveness. You should continue the same interest in learning even now.
Arjun: Lord, I will. Thank you for opening my eyes.
Om Shanti.
(This dialogue is intended to bring out the importance of training and capacity-building for a CA’s office.)
