Lost and Found - No truth in "Satyam"

Fatal Wednesday proved to be too fatal for Satyam today.What started in a simple merger , has blown out of proportion and has exposed India's "Enron" along with our own "Aurthur Anderson".

The Revelations and confessions made today has rocked the world along with our "already" Brittle market indicator SENSEX, which went into a free fall mode and plunged over 7% based on these.

It is an irony that Satyam was the 2008 winner of the prestigious "Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance". The shares of the company dipped to an all time low of Rs.30.80 today and ended at Rs.40.25.

The Great Indian Accounting Scandal

Today the 7th of Jan 2009 Mr. Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computers resigned after admitting to an Accounting Fraud.  The ball was set in motion when the company stared at failure to Acquire Maytas Infra and after outcry from various public outfits (especially the Media) the deal was called off. This forced the management to give explanations for the gaps in the Balance Sheet and eventually things unfolded to reveal that Satyam’s balance sheet as on Sep 30, 2008,

-  Carried an non-existent(inflated) cash and bank balances of Rs.5,040Cr.

- It carried an accrued interest of Rs 376 crore which was non-existent. 

- An understated liability of Rs 1,230 crore on account of funds was arranged by Mr. Raju. 

- An over stated debtors position of Rs 490 crore.

- All together taking the tally to Rs.7,136 Crores. 

On the same BS date, the company reported a revenue of Rs.2,700Cr. when actualls were Rs.2,112Cr. and a operating Margin of around Rs.650Cr. when the actuals were Rs.61Cr.

Causality

This term denotes a necessary relationship between one event (called cause) and another event (called effect) which is the direct consequence (result) of the first. And with due reference to the above this relationship holds good with the Multi Year fraud that has been revealed. According to Mr. Raju, "What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years. It has attained unmanageable proportions as the size of company operations grew significantly"

Effects

Due to the above problem, the management was forced to take necessary action and thats when Maytas came into the picture. Maytas Infra is held by Mr. Raju's sons and Satyam worked out a deal where Satyam Computers would have paid at least Rs 5000 crore to acquire the Maytas companies from the promoters (Mr. Raju's Sons). The money was non-existent. So, it would have pretended to pay the money and ended up with the assets (the two Maytas companies). The promoters may have never got paid but that would have served them right.

Put in layman terms - Mr. Raju instead of making a gift deed and making things in the public,he went to do the same thing abiding all company laws. But his plans saw a dead end when the deal was forced to be called off amidst an outcry from media and analysts. This resulted in the Beginning of the End of Mr. Raju and today he has resigned and accepted his Fraud in public.

What Could have been - Mr.Raju's Point of View

If the Deal with MAYTAS had gone through then everything would have been alright - Satyam would have filled the BS with assets that it would gain from the supposed "takeover". Then real assets would appear in its books instead of non-existent cash; the Raju family would have continued to manage Satyam, even if it meant that they have to lose a few crores..and investors would have still have a chance to get their money back, Fortunately or Unfortunately That didnt happen.

To top this all off PWC - the auditors of Satyam have been aiding this from the beginning..Hats off to all you guys at PWC..You have just destroyed the life of a few million people.

x

The CA way of Life

On hearing the words “I’m doing CA…” vivid images of bookworms who keep burning the midnight oil even after slogging 10-12 hours of study turn up in our minds. Generally speaking students of CA background are considered to be less aggressive and more conservative than other teens or youth. Well I for one, as a student pursuing CA can guarantee that, our fraternity isn’t so. Sure we do have our hands full juggling between classes, internship and studies but that doesn’t mean that we do not get our share of fun & entertainment.

About the CA Institute

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. ICAI now is the second largest accounting body in the whole world.  Institute has its headquarters at New Delhi. In addition, it has five Regional Councils located in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Kanpur and New Delhi and 117 Branches spread all over the country. 

CA as a Profession

Our Profession has around 145000 members spread throughout the country and in different parts of the world. Currently there is an Increase in percentage of members joining industry when compared to the last few years. The lifelines of our profession are small firms generally in the nature of Sole proprietorship and Partnership.

Options Galore

The Qualified students prefer to either join an industry or set up their private practice. You can find us holding a responsible position in industrial firms as CEOs, Managing Directors, Director (Finance) and Chief Accountants & you can also find us in private practices minting money.

The CA Students Fraternity

Our student fraternity SICASA (Southern India Chartered Accountants students Association) is one of the biggest student unions in this country. Every student who registers for PCC (Professional Competence Course) with the SIRC (Southern India Regional Council) of ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) becomes a member in the student council by default and a nominal charge is collected from them along with the registration fees for the course. Currently we have about 26000 students in our rolls with around 17300 students in PCC & 8800 Final course students and this number is growing every day.

Being one of the biggest student union a separate Bank A/c is maintained. Separate Books of Accounts are also maintained and yes, even our accounts are subject to audit. The audited accounts are submitted during the AGM which is held every year. In this AGM, annual elections are held & 11 student members of SICASA are elected as the Student Council Members representing the whole of South India. Then further elections are held within the council to decide on the office bearing posts of the Vice Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. This team of students is monitored by a Chartered Accountant who is elected in the CA member’s election as the Chairman of SICASA.

Functioning                                                                                                                              The council of students have their hands full with conducting Study Circle Programme (every Saturday at the SIRC of ICAI) inviting speakers from the industry who have varied experience and impart their knowledge to the students who attend them. Apart from this, a seminar is conducted every month which aims to give benefit to 200 – 300 students in a go. But the most daunting part is to conduct a Regional Conference every year that invites students from the 4 southern states. Last year around 1200 students and 200 CA members across South India attended the conference and reaped benefits from it.

This council also makes sure that the students are not deprived of the “Fun n Frolic” due to them, by conducting cultural events (including Music & Dance) and Sporting events (which includes Cricket, Chess & Badminton Tournaments). The events that we conduct do not stop here…we also conduct Non Conventional programmes and Seminars wherein both the student and their firm reap benefits from them like the Tax Audit Programme which taught the students to deal with work during the Tax Audit Season. Apart from these it also tackles the grievances of the students and handles material matters.

Contact Us

The Students Council is at your Disposal and by these posts we hope to reach as many fellow students as we can. Also we have opened a portal sicasathewinners.blogspot.com with which we wish to communicate the updates on the activities of SICASA. We are Receptive for any Suggestion and will be glad to handle your enquiries and Grievances. You can Reach us at sicasa0809@gmail.com or simply call Ms. Muthu Abirami – 9841352834, Balaji Sridharan – 9884257268 or Avinash Kulur 9884241961. We welcome everyone welcome to join up SICASA as a volunteer for our future Activities.

BALAJI SRIDHARAN

Secretary SICASA

PROMISE

As you sit in silence,
Wondering why
I'll be your shoulder to cry on
Until your tears run dry.

When you've been hurt,
And can't believe what they've done
If you need someone to talk to
I'll be the one.

If a close friend hurts you,
And you don't understand
Remember I'm here,
I'll lend a helping hand.

Burdens are lighter when carried by two,
And I just want you to know
I'm here for you.

Peanuts for the Commandos

India is viewed by many as the  land of contrasts and there is nothing better than this to explain it.

Im really sorry to see the way a life is being valued by the Govt. of India and i as an Indian am shamed to wake up to the fact that a shooter who shoots in an Olympic gets around 5-6 crores worth of assets whereas a shooter who shoots to save the life of 500 people gets somewhat around Rs.40-50 lacs (that too only if he has died)... 

The people of India have today woken up to this cold fact that an olympic medal is worth more than lives of so many people.Personally i would prefer to say that every woman and every mother is better than most MBA grads at management and every woman born in India has the capacity to get us gold medals that can satisfy our hunger in sports but will that satisfy the hunger those hearts which have been damaged beyond repair on losing their loved ones.

Even an army man has a family and in most cases the family depends on his income. Our "generous" govt has offered to the families of those who have been killed a mere 50 lac to spend for the rest 30-40 years.

In the present day scenario at mumbai the complete education(at a reputed school and coll ) costs of 2 children till graduation exceeds Rs.50 lac (with school fees skyrocketing to around a whooping 40k a year and tution fees hitting the roof).

If education takes up the whole where will the family go for Food Clothing and Shelter???

In such a case how will this so called" compensation" provided by the govt prove to be enough for a family to survive on??? 

I dont have any grudge against Mr.Bindra actually i respect him for putting India on the map but the point is that the NSG commandos arent paid nough for the Risk that they take and the compensation given to their families after their death is peanuts compared to what Mr.Bindra got for Shooting his way to a medal....

 

What Mr.Bindra Got ?

Awards for 2008 Olympics Gold medal

• Rs. 1.5 crore by L. N. Mittal, Arcelor Mittal
• Rs. 50 lakh cash prize by Central Govt.
• Rs. 25 lakh cash prize by the State Government of Haryana.
• Rs. 25 lakh cash prize by the Board of Control for Cricket in India
• Rs. 15 lakh cash prize by Steel Ministry of India
• Rs. 11 lakh cash prize by the State Government of Bihar. 
• The Patna Indoor Stadium will be renamed after Abhinav Bindra.
• Rs. 10 lakh prize by the State Government of Karnataka.

• Rs. 10 lakh cash prize by S. Amolak Singh Gakhal, Chairman Golds Gym
• Rs. 10 lakh cash prize by Chief Minister of Maharashtra state
• Rs. 5 lakh cash prize by State Government of Orissa
• Rs. 5 lakh cash prize by M. Karunanidhi, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu
• Rs. 1 lakh cash prize by the State Government of Chhattisgarh
• Rs. 1 lakh cash prize by the State Government of Madhya Pradesh
• A free lifetime railway pass by the Railway Ministry of India
• A Gold medal by the State Government of Kerala.
• Rs. 15 lakh cash award by Pune Municipal Corporation
• Not to mention the Volvo Car that was gifted to him costing 4mn US$ (around Rs.50 lacs).
• And the income that they derieve as Royalty and Income from Ads from sponsorship tie ups with Samsung and The Sahara Group.

What the NSG Guys get (after death only) ?

The Indian Government has offered Rs 1 crore for security personnel who died during the Mumbai attack operations.

Then ...?

Well if you are wondering where the rest are..keep wondering..but thats all their family gets when the soilder has bravely laid his soul for saving the lives of so many innocent people.

An old saying goes on that "God helps you when you help others" but if this is the state of Affairs in India, Then not even god will help India... 

Jai Hind...

Repo Rates - Unfolded

What is it ?

The repurchase or repo rate is the interest rate at which the Reserve Bank lends money to private banks. The Reserve Bank acts as banker for private banks. Banks experience a cash shortfall or a need for liquidity on a daily basis and their lender of last resort is the Reserve Bank. A formal system is in place to guide the process through which banks borrow from the Reserve Bank and it is called the repurchase transactions system (repo system for short). The repo system of borrowing and lending involves the temporary sale of a financial asset by the borrower (bank) in exchange for the needed cash from the lender (Reserve Bank). In such a transaction, there is an explicit agreement that the borrower must repurchase the financial assets at an agreed future date – currently after one week. The repo rate is determined by the Reserve Bank at each meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee. It is expressed as a rate per annum. The repo rate serves as a benchmark for the level of short-term interest rates. 

How Does it deal with Inflation ? 

If the repo rate increases, banks have to pay more for repo funds. To maintain their existing profit margins, banks raise the interest rates at which they take deposits from and lend money to their customers. This causes a general rise in interest rates or the cost of holding money, and this eventually helps to control inflation by reducing the demand for credit to be spent on the purchase of goods and services. The actions of the Bank described here are also known as the formulation and implementation of monetary policy.