Vulnerability of the profession:
Shrikrishna
(S) — Arjun, you are looking very much upset today.
Arjun
(A) — Not only upset; but terribly afraid.
S — Your BCAS’s motto is ‘Na Bhayam Chaasti Jaagratah’
He who is awake has nothing to fear about.
A — That is alright in a motto. One can give a
big sermon on that. But what actually happens in practice?
S — What happened?
A — My friend has been trapped very badly. He
was unnecessarily dragged into disciplinary proceedings.
S — But why? Has he done everything right?
A — No. Actually, he was an auditor of an
executor and trustee company. In that audit, certain disclosures on a few
accounting standards remained to be made.
S — Then what is wrong if he is faced with
disciplinary case?
A — The reason why and how his lapses came to
surface are very strange.
S — That does not matter. How he got exposed is
not relevant.
A — But nobody is aggrieved by his lapses.
S — That is also not material. Whether anybody
suffered or not is of no consequences.
A — That is true. But the aggrieved party had
nothing to do with the audit. The real dispute was something else. Altogether
different.
S — What was that?
A — This executor and trustee company executed
the will of somebody. That is their normal business.
S — Yes. What about that?
A — One lady felt that in the process of
execution of the will, there was some injustice to her.
S — Then why didn’t she write to the company?
A — She did. But the company did not heed to her
complaints. So she wanted to teach a lesson to the company.
S — Then what did she do?
A — She made complaints to all possible forums;
and kept on following up vigorously.
S — Oh!
A — And she engaged some CAs to find out the
flaws in the financial statements of the company. Actually, that had nothing to
do with the company’s act of executing the will.
S — Bad luck!
A — My friend who was the auditor, was called by
ROC’s office. So were the directors.
S — What then?
A — Regional Director pointed out the flaws.
There was nothing wrong in financials; but a few disclosures had been omitted.
S — So what did he do?
A — He agreed that the lapses were very
technical in nature. He suggested for compounding of offence. So, my friend
paid composition money of Rs.5,000/- and got the matter closed. Directors also
were summoned.
S — Actually, when you compound an offence,
indirectly you admit the lapse.
A — Agreed. But my friend felt that was the end
of the matter. ROC’s office forwarded the matter to our institute.
S — Arere!
A — Poor fellow! The directors also paid their
composition money and are now free! That lady got nothing in her hands. But
this friend of mine is facing the music of disciplinary action. This is unfair!
S — Cool! Arjun, cool down. You may feel it is
unfair. I also feel sorry for your friend. But unfortunately, this is not a
case of ‘complaint’ against him. And the fact remains that there were flaws.
A — If it is not a complaint, what is it?
S — It is an ‘information’ case. The lady is out
of the picture. Due to some reason or the other, the institute has received the
information. They have to take it to the logical end.
A — How vulnerable our profession is! Even a
person unconcerned with our work can create problems for us! He may not be even remotely affected by our work.
S — That’s right, Arjun. Your Council feels that
a CA’s work should be perfect in absolute terms. Not in relative terms.
A — This is a good lesson to all of us. But what
will happen in this case?
S — He may be held guilty under clause (7) of
Part 1 of Second Schedule. ‘Gross negligence or lack of due diligence’.
A — Oh! That is very serious. Then there may be
a punishment!
S — Since you aspire for independence, the
eternal vigilance is its cost. You have to be on your toes all the time. A
little laxity may expose you to so many risks.
A — I agree with you. The new Company Law is
also like a nightmare to auditors! We are so vulnerable that we cannot even
imagine what will happen; when and how!
S — So Arjun, just as I am holding the reigns of
this chariot tightly, you also have to do like that. A little looseness may
cost your dearly!
A — Yes, My Lord! This is nothing but your
message of karmayga from Geeta! I bow before you. Pranaam!
Om Shanti.
(The purpose of this
dialogue was to underline the importance of perfection in our work and point
out the vulnerability).
