Friday 28 December 2018

HUMAN RESOURCE ACCOUNTING: THE WAY FORWARD

Human resources are one of the most important assets of an organization that are very different from the physical assets. Physical assets unlike human assets do not have emotions and feelings, they don’t get depreciated.

Human resource accounting is accounting for people as the organizational resources. It includes measurement of cost and value of people to organizations. It includes cost of recruiting, selecting, hiring, training and developing employees and judging their economic value to the organization.

The American Accounting Associations’ Committee on Human Resource Accounting (1973) has defined Human Resource Accounting as “the process of identifying and measuring data about human resource and communicating this information to interested parties”

In the traditional concept of accounting all expenses on human resources like training, recruitment, etc. are treated as expenses and written off against revenue instead of being treated as investments, to be amortized over a period of time.

Such a system will ensure proper furnishing of cost value information about acquisition, allocation, development and maintenance of human resources, their effective monitoring by management, development of management principles in context etc.

There are various methods of valuation of human resource accounting like Historical Cost Method, Replacement Cost Approach, Opportunity Cost, etc.

In the first method the actual cost incurred on recruiting, hiring, training and development of human resources are capitalized and amortized over the expected useful life of the human resources. If the human assets are liquidated before their expected useful life of human resources the whole amount not written off is charged to the income of the year in which liquidation takes place.

The second method values the human resources on the assumption that if the current human resources are to be replaced with equally qualified and experienced individuals what will be the cost to the company in recruiting, hiring, training and developing the replacement.

As per the third method several divisional heads bid for the services of various people they need among themselves and then include the bid price in the investment cost.

These methods have certain advantages as well as disadvantages; therefore, there is always a bone of contention among the firms that which method is ideal one.

Also as there are no standardized procedures developed so far, only few organizations are providing the data but only as additional information. The system will take a few years to flourish but it is indeed the right way forward.


Ms. Divya Gupta

Assistant Professor

Department of Management Studies


Wednesday 26 December 2018


ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

Increasing attention towards the environment   becomes important once we realize that we are but a small part of the planet. Since time immemorial we have thrived on the abundant resources provided to us by nature. In our greed for more and more we have been extracting the maximum with total disregard to the fact that our insatiable greed has done irreparable damage to nature. There is an increasing awareness that if we continued in our quest without paying back to our planet and Mother Nature our very existence would become difficult.
People have voiced their concerns in World Forums. Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) was published between 1999 and 2005. It was developed to evaluate environmental sustainability relative to the paths of other countries. It was followed by Environmental Performance Index (EPI). This index was developed from the Pilot Environmental Performance Index (published in 2002).It was designed to supplement the environmental targets set forth in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. EPI is a method of quantifying the environmental performance of a state's policies. Both these indices were developed by Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University and Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.
Another world body, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system. It also serves as an authoritative advocate for the sustainability of the global environment.
 UNEP's mission is "to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations."
UNEP has a multifaceted agenda for promoting and developing regional programmes for environmental sustainability. It creates environmental awareness. Another important function is providing country-level environmental capacity building and technology support. It also helps to develop international environmental law, and provides expert advice on the development and use of environmental concepts and instruments. A major contribution being - the facilitator in the coordination of UN activities on matters concerned with the environment, and ensuring, through cooperation, liaison and participation, that their activities take environmental considerations into account.
 India’s position continues to be dismal. Statistics reveal that India is among the bottom five countries on the Environmental Performance Index 2018, plummeting 36 points from 141 in 2016, according to a biennial report by Yale and Columbia Universities and the World Economic Forum.
While our country is at the bottom of the list in the environmental health category, it ranks 178 out of 180 as far as air quality is concerned.
 NASA’s  visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIRS) ,which has a high spatial resolution of 375 meters and provides good response in detecting fires of relatively small areas, both during the day and at night time has reported more than 15,000 fires in the states of Punjab and Haryana during October,2018
 In order to curb vehicular pollution in the National Capital Region, about 1.8 lakh old vehicles face ban in Noida and Ghaziabad alone. The vehicular ban is for all petrol vehicles that are more than fifteen year old and diesel vehicles that are ten years old. Fingers point towards the numerous construction works in progress. Bursting of crackers has been banned. In spite of these measures the air pollution levels remain hazardous.
It must be noted that the above paragraphs deal only with the air pollution. The pollutants of the water and soil are also a cause of major concern.
Amidst various steps taken up by international bodies, governments of countries, different NGOs and self help groups, it is important that each individual becomes alert about the dire consequences of enviromenmental degradation and acts in a responsible manner. It is our daily activities that need modification.
Small steps that can be taken up in our homes such as:
1. Reducing the use of plastics.
2.  Eliminating the use of poly bags.
3. Segregation of wastes
4. Building of compost pits in the societies/ colonies where garden wastes and organic wastes from homes can be processed. This would lead to formation of compost which can be used as valuable manure for the trees in the societies/ colonies as well as on the streets. This would also eliminate the need of burning these leaves/organic wastes and thereby reduce the air pollution.
5. Reducing wastage of water.
6. Reducing wastage of electricity.
7. Installation of Solar Panels to supplement Power requirements.

There is some hope for the future only when all of us act in a coordinated manner to protect the environment. It is our thinking that has to be modified if we plan a future for our progeny. This awareness has to be taken up with a level of seriousness that we exercise while carrying out financial planning. It must be strongly engrained in our psyche that we all stand to lose once we neglect/harm Nature.

Our planet is our home, our only home.
Where should we go if we destroy it?
(The Dalai Lama)



Ms Suchitra Srivastava
Associate Professor,
Department of Management,
JIMS, Vasant Kunj  



Do What You Love Or What Pays?

Excuse us for signaling cliched, but in my opinion everyone should have the prospect to get the career they want. Everybody has a passion in life, something they’ve continually wanted to do, but numerous of us get held up in the daily grind, and find ourselves slipping further away from our ambitions.
A career has a natural progression with which we build up skills, and will be promoted to greater levels within a company. On the other hand, a job is rather which pays the rent, and might not necessarily be pleasing or fascinating. Above all, we have ALL been there! Most of us will have to take jobs which we  don’t want, and don’t relish. So try and stay positive, there is a way out. It really is never too late to start a new career, and fulfill your dreams.
While making a career decision, ‘follow your passion’ is usually a  heard advice. Reality said, it can actually be a tad misleading, at least going by research. If you have been somebody fervent about becoming a designer or blogger or singer since your childhood and still pursued the dream till you got your dreamed job, you are certainly a fortunate person.
A well written quote which I like a lot says:

“LEARN TO BALANCE A DREAM AND A JOB, UNTIL YOUR DREAM BECOMES YOUR JOB”

Unquestionably the truth is all of us need a source of income, indeed a stable one to live our lives. This is one thing we are constantly reminded of, since our childhood. Somewhere amongst choosing the right course to study and finding the right job, we overlook what we call as ‘inner calling’. We are so dedicated about the stability and monetary aspects of life that we overlook our passion. Most people, settle for a job and never even try to build a career in the first place.

I feel personally that our ultimatum must be about feeling contented and happy, on every single day of our life with whatever we choose to do. People have jobs paying lucratively, but stress is all they carry back home along with their six or seven digit paycheck, whereas, there are others, who live a middle class, but come back home with a big  smile and an eagerness to pick their work the next from where they left it. This zeal only comes with the sense of fulfillment and gladness in your work is giving you. Basically, I believe this kind work is what all of us have to choose and build a career in.
Wise people say that money is not everything, but on the other hand you’d be more contented in a sedan than a bus. Truly, money can’t buy happiness. But in the world we live today, we need money to do the things we love. Therefore, we have to have a career or job that provides us with that paycheck. But the genuine key to happiness is, doing what you love to earn money. Only a lucky few in this world gets to have it that way. But surely, you can find something that you are passionate about in what you do to earn a living. If not? By all means, you need a career change. After all, that’s what I did.

Chasing your dreams and taking risks to do what you love, is never easy. But I’ve learnt that, at the end of the day, it’s worth it. Life is not about how fat your paycheck is. It’s about how fulfilled you feel at the end of a working day.

Ms. Sakshi Chhabra

Assistant Professor
Department of Management Studies