I write this editorial, mourning the death of R.K. Laxman, the renowned cartoonist, whose common man, made us smile every morning. His cartoons were loved by all, such was the quality of his art. The lines that he drew can be truly referred to as “LaxmanRekha” in every sense of the term. His comments were hard hitting,caustic and yet retained an almost wry humour. His subtle comments on the inconsistencies in human behavior will always be remembered. He crticised persons of all classes and creed, making his point but never offended any one. He knew exactly where the line between humour and offence was drawn and never crossed it.
If all of us, whether as individuals, citizens, and professionals live our lives within the LaxmanRekha the demons, that lead us astray and come to haunt us, will not be able to do so. Let us take two of our rights, of paramount importance, the right to freedom of expression and the right to practice one’s religion. If all of us tempered our expression and ensured that while we got our point across, we respected the other person’s right as well, most of the problems like banning of films, books would not arise.Similarly, while everyone has the right to practice ones religion, there is a limit to what extent in what manner we can practice it in public. If all of us stayed within limits, we would not need the President of the United States to teach us religious tolerance. I have given a couple of illustrations, but there are many such norms in public life which we need to adhere to. It is all a question of staying within the LaxmanRekha.
There are such boundaries, when we act as professionals as well. We must ensure that we protect interests of our clients after we have understood where in our opinion their interest lies. I have often said this in the past, but our profession is such that we tend to build a very close association with our clients. This association often leads to our taking undue professional risks, and compromising our position. While this so in our role as auditors, as consultants, we must guard against tendering clients advice which falls within a grey area. We must remember that while a concern for our clients is natural, we cannot afford to fall in love with our clients. We must draw a boundary to our association with the clients and ensure that the relationship stays within that line. It is only then that our advice will be dispassionate, and it will be in the interest of both the client andus.
As chartered accountants, our role can be broadly divided into three parts. The first that of an auditor authenticating the accounts of the client, second as his advisor and consultant, and the third of his representative before various authorities. As auditors we must fully understand thatwhile expressing an opinion on client’s accounts, our role is that of an investigator. The law now requires us not merely to remain a traditional watchdog but a canine that barks and warns. However, even while performing that role, we must evaluate everything at face value, and not disbelieve everything that is placed before us. As consultants, we must understand the difference between evasion and avoidance. We must never advise client to evade tax, and ensure that measures and structures that are adopted for avoidance must fall within the four corners of the law. As representatives, we may make or adopt arguments which may sound absolutely ridiculous or border on irrationality, but we must never misrepresent or falsify facts. When we act there are limits within which we must remain, whether those lines are thin or dark.
While all of us are busy professionals, we must not forget that a duty to our families. I have seen that many of us do not draw a line between our offices and homes. We tend to carry our office, home and this disrupts the peace in the family and also affects the happiness of our dear ones. We must learn not to carry our profession beyond the threshold of our homes.We owe a lot to families and our success as professionals depends on their support.We must definitely discharge obligations to our loved ones.
If we have crossed the line or what I have referred to as the LaxmanRekha, in regard to any of our aspects of our life we must introspect. If we need to change some things around us and the change is possible we must make an attempt to carry out those changes. There may be some situations which we cannot change and we must learn to accept this fact. I am reminded of the following famous lines”God give me the courage to change the things that I can, the strength to accept those that I cannot and the wisdom to understand the difference between the two”. Finally, in order to appreciate and remain within the boundaries, which may avoid disasters, we may need to change ourselves, the most difficult task. I will end with the famous utterances of an Urdu poet, which run like this “Aadmi ghar badalta hai, libaas badalta hai, rishte badlta hai, dost badalta hai, lekin khudko nahi badlta. Ghalib bhi yahi galti karta raha. Dhool chehre par thi lekin aina saaf karta raha”.
