Humility and merit go together
Humility and merit go together
24 Sep, 2007, 0035 hrs IST,N K Vijayaraghavan, TNN
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in his Valley of Fear, observes: “Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself but talent instantly recognises genius.” An old English proverb also notes, “Empty vessels make more noise”, while a Tamil aphorism conveys the message, Niraikudam thalumbathu (a vessel full of water doesn’t make gurgling sounds).
Indeed those who earnestly strive for excellence do not ever view others with a condescending or patronising look because they feel earnestly that they themselves have much to traverse in their own quest. They practically live out the message of the Tamil saint Avvaiyar, “What we have learned is just the size of a handful of sand; what we haven’t is as big as the entire sand in this vast earth.”
Egoism (ahamkara) is the root cause of all pride, vain boast and self-assumptions, which discount the merits in and accomplishments of others. In fact, in general, human nature is such that most tend to magnify their own sufferings, contributions made or help rendered. Many also lose themselves in orgies of self-pity, self-justification, self-aggrandisement, vain assumptions and fanciful imagination, through living in a fool’s paradise, evolved out of the hollowness, feelings of inadequacy and pretensions to superiority.
The seeking aspirant, on the other hand, is bestowed with a spiritual insight to look beyond his own limitations and thus be sensitised to the virtues, merits and beauty, which abound in the world around. Drawing thus from the cornucopia of blessings all over and obtaining lessons from others too, he becomes the prime beneficiary in his search for virtues and blessings, which would lead him on.
The beginning is thus through that self-effacing humility which admits to the deficiencies within and through a capacity to appreciate and learn from worthwhile things around. Such virtues cleanse the spirit of the retarding forces of egoism, pride and egotism.
This concept is conveyed brilliantly through a scene in the great Kannada film, Hamsagethe. The main character, Venkanna, in sheer ecstasy and gratitude within, embraces a tall rock, on the top of which a sparrow perches itself, as if to taunt him, “You have much to climb before you attain excellence.” Venkanna’s quest thereafter begins in right earnest.
The truly meritorious, not ever needing the crutches of self propagation, would obtain around him many to spread his fame. Indeed, when some one else blows your trumpet, the sound will carry twice as far!
Merits of adopting global accounting system in core sector
Merits of adopting global accounting system in core sector
25 Sep, 2007, 0303 hrs IST,P Rama Krishna,
Earlier, in most countries, while public sector operators were responsible for construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure, including toll highways, toll bridges, power plants, water supply plants, airports, sea ports, etc, such infrastructure was financed through public budget appropriation.
Of late, in today’s expanding global economy, governments of several countries use a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model for the purpose. The BOT model allows private, foreign and national investors to finance, design, construct, upgrade and operate large-scale infrastructure and development projects.
In return, the operator (a private sector company) is granted the right to generate revenues from the infrastructure facilities for a specified term or concession period. These revenues enable the company to recover its invested capital and also earn a fair return on investment during the concession period, which may range typically from 10 years to 40 years. At the end of this period, assets of the BOT project are transferred, in good condition, to the government or to the local authority which granted the concession (i.e., grantor). This arrangement is articulated in a contract which delineates performance standards, mechanisms for adjusting prices and provisions for arbitrating disputes.
In India, successful public-private participation arrangements are emerging and it is estimated that to sustain economic growth, investments of $350-500 billion would be required in the next five years. While these service arrangements may assume any variety of forms, participation by both the grantor and operator, accompanied by an initial large investment, raises questions over the assets and liabilities to be recognised by the operator.
To facilitate this scenario, a reasonable framework of concessionaire agreements and specialised considerations for accounting and preparation of financial statements of these private sector entities should be prescribed.
Currently, from an Indian perspective, BOT assets are recognised as fixed assets and depreciated over the course of the BOT contract. This treatment does not fully exhibit the risks and rewards associated with the arrangement and also does not reflect the substance of the underlying arrangement rather than in form.
For example, the operator neither holds a leasehold right to nor owns the asset; he constructs the asset in accordance to the grantor’s specifications and he also complies with the grantor’s operation and maintenance requirements for the asset. In addition, he should also comply with the terms for transfer of the assets at the end of the concessionaire period as specified by the grantor. In such a situation, how would the operator be justified in recognising these assets as his own?
Further, in most of the cases, the initial development takes place over a time frame of 3-7 years. At this stage, the operator continues to provide services by building the infrastructure; therefore what is the justification for not recognising the revenues during this period? One can observe that there are more risks and efforts involved during the development phase rather than the operations phase. But the present Indian Accounting Standards permit revenue recognition only during the operation phase, but not during the development phase.
Infrastructure, within this context, is not recognised as property, plant and equipment of the operator because the contractual service arrangement does not convey the right to control the use of the public service infrastructure to the operator. The operator has the right to operate the infrastructure to provide service to the public, on behalf of the grantor, in accordance with the terms specified in the contract.
Internationally, the context for accounting for BOT projects has changed to one where the asset is recognised as a financial or intangible asset.
On November 30, 2006, the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) issued IFRIC Interpretation 12-Service Concession Arrangements. This Interpretation provides guidance on accounting by private sector operators involved in the provision of public sector infrastructure assets and services. With effect from January 1, 2008, the standard is to internationally recognise the BOT asset as a financial asset or an intangible asset.
Various factors, including globalisation, encourage the migration of accounting to a more singular and common platform in terms of rules and standards. In this context, it would be prudent for infrastructure companies based in India to recognise BOT assets as intangibles, on par with their international peers.
To do this, Indian companies need to be educated about the benefits of recognising the service concession as a financial or intangible asset, which include greater synthesis and congruence with international standards. A more accurate and insightful view into how the BOT asset is recognised on the books.
Accounting for service concession arrangements commences from the time of bidding for a service concession. Research indicates that accounting issues are present across each stage of the value chain; these issues include, and are not limited to n Prior costs — bid costs, security deposits, consultant fees, etc.
n Construction and procurement of assets — recognition of intangible assets, recognition of financial assets, borrowing costs, special purpose entities, etc.
n Operations and maintenance — revenue recognition, exchange fluctuations, taxation, current and deferred income taxes, impact on credit rating by bank creditors, etc.
It is not only Indian companies who will have to be educated on the benefits of recognising service concessions as financial or intangible assets. Retail and institutional investors, financial services providers and the market as a whole must become aware of this new practice. Accounting firms will need to articulate to its clients and to financial services providers extending financing for such projects the merits of adopting the international system of accounting. Initially, there may be a certain amount of resistance to adopting the global standard, but accounting firms can address this by facilitating their clients and other parties to view the issue in a more holistic and accurate manner.
(The author is partner, Price Waterhouse)
Indonesia’s talks with ExxonMobil hit a hurdle
Indonesia’s talks with ExxonMobil hit a hurdle
Reuters Published: September 25, 2007, 23:45
Jakarta: Indonesia and ExxonMobil have halted negotiations on the disputed Natuna D-Alpha gas block, now controlled by the US company, an official at energy watchdog BPMIGAS said yesterday.
Talks on the offshore gas project, estimated to require investment of about $40 billion, have run into several problems, attracting the attention of foreign investors who are already wary of committing money to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy because of its weak legal system, bureaucracy and corruption.
The most recent setback over Natuna has arisen because the two parties involved cannot agree on how to split the gas produced, the official said, but other unresolved issues include the length of Exxon’s contract.
The Indonesian side is waiting for the government to issue new instructions before talks can resume.
Controlling issues
Exxon controls a 76 per cent stake in the Natuna block while Indonesian state oil and gas firm, Pertamina, owns 24 per cent and would like to increase its stake to half.
Indonesia also says that Exxon’s contract giving it that 76 per cent share has expired, whereas the energy major has said the contract is valid until 2009.
The BPMIGAS official said the two sides stopped talking recently because they could not agree on how to split the gas produced from the block.
“Indonesia wants a 65 per cent split for the government and 35 per cent for the contractor. Exxon has rejected the proposal because it wants more,” the official said.
Kuwait favours BP ahead of Shell as partner in China refinery plan
Kuwait favours BP ahead of Shell as partner in China refinery plan
Reuters / Published: September 25, 2007, 23:45
Kuwait City: Kuwait wants to drop Royal Dutch Shell as a partner and is instead considering BP in a project to build a $5 billion oil refinery in Guangdong in China, Kuwait’s state news agency Kuna reported yesterday.
Shell had hoped to gain a foothold in the domestic fuel market of the world’s second-largest energy consumer through the Guangdong plant, after an attempt to take a share in another refining project failed last year.
The refinery would be one of the largest joint venture investments in China, similar in size to the $5 billion refinery to be built by Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco in Fujian.
State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and China’s largest refinery Sinopec received preliminary Chinese government approval for the Guangdong plant last year.
In August, Sinopec said Shell and US Dow Chemical Co were also in talks to participate. There were several reasons KPC no longer wanted Shell involved, including objections from China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Kuna reported, citing Chinese sources. KPC was in talks on the project with BP, which had previously expressed interest, it said.
It was unclear why BP would be a better fit than Shell for the project. Analysts say Beijing is showing a preference toward teaming up with state-owned firms that can offer oil supply guarantees such as KPC, with less need for the technology or financing offered by oil majors such as Shell or BP.
“The issue has been dragging on for months,” said Kuwaiti energy analyst Kamel Al Harmi.
Team India winners of 2007 Twenty20 World Cup and Misbah’s mistake
Congratulations to Team India for this wonderful achievement.
While joining the celebrations, we are proving once again that Cricket Victory is the only real sporting victory that is counted in India. This can be seen by the barrage of gifts and prize money that is flowing and that will flow on and on to the
players. Dhoni did a great thing and as he rightly talked to the press during the presentation ceremony – “I opted to give an opportunity to a player who wants to prove in front of the International Cricketing Community. Win or Fail did not matter me.”
It was the best possible leadership example alive and online in front of millions of viewers. Very seldom you will find a leader taking a courageous decision such as this one in a crunch situation. He was well supported through out by his team members. This is Team Spirit at its best. Many more prizes await you Team India when you return tomorrow.
And the joke part of this victory is expressed below here by an email forward just now received by me. It goes like this:
T20 FINAL – MISBAH’S MISTAKE!!
MISBAH THOUGHT HE WAS SENDING THE BALL TO A PLACE WHERE THERE WAS NO ONE. HE DID NOT KNOW THAT THERE IS A MALAYALI IN EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD!!!
Have a great day and God Bless,
Ramesh Menon
25092007
Mind Speaks – Planning and execution
Planning and execution
Well, well, well. What at an exciting game of Twenty20 cricket it was. Australian team was really floored by the brilliant overall team work of Team India. Each player looked responsible and played a pre-defined plan to perfection. The exuberance of confidence and focus level in them were at its peak that some times I felt the Team forgot the art of celebrating wickets. Not many times we get to get such an occasion to execute a plan to its perfection as it was displayed on the field yesterday by the Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his bunch of young heroes. Whether we win the finals against Pakistan or not, they have already captured the hearts of millions of Cricket fans, irrespective of whether they come from India, Pakistan, England, Australia or wherever.
Keeping the nerves and keeping cool is an important element, required all the time in life to achieve success and victory. Not many people practise this art or at least even attempt to learn it. Till some time ago, I myself was one who never achieved this target. It is very easy to get intimidated or distracted and lose the focus of our objectives. In life, every one has to have a smaller objective and Bigger Objective. While working short term for the smaller objectives, our prime focus should be on the Bigger version of it. The pace and methodology with which we should go about should be strategically developed for the execution of such a strategy. But many times, we tend to focus on the smaller objectives and which will totally take us out and away from our Bigger objectives. We can illustrate this situation many times by small events happening in our life. One such incident happened to me even yesterday. I was driving down the highway early morning towards Dubai from Abu Dhabi and it was a very foggy morning. With not much traffic and with music on, my concentration was to watch out for a diversion to particular place I had to go. I was almost sure that I was nearer to that diversion and at this time, I happened to watch closely in the side mirror a beautiful car approaching mine. With a passion for automobiles, I was unable to take my eyes of her, slowed down the speed and watched the beautiful Blue Rolls Royce Phantom passing me like a race horse. I took a closer look at it, the number, the model and even the driver and realised that it was owned by the most prominent businessman from Abu Dhabi. I enjoyed it and all this happened within the matter of 1 or 2 minutes at the speed of 120+ kms on the highway. In the same instance I realised, I missed my very important turning, crossing it, making me drive for a retour of about 25 kms and valuable time of almost 45 minutes in to the rush hour traffic of Dubai City.
This is just a small example, it did not cost me much as I had kept a leverage time of 45 minutes before my appointment just to explore the location I was visiting to capture the surroundings with my camera before the very important meeting. To arrive early – I do this strategy many times if time permit, because it will give me some time to relax and also familiarise myself and de-stress from the drive towards the place. While looking through the view finder of my camera, I transform myself into a positive self once again, and in the background ready myself with my plans and strategies.
This is one way of grooming towards a positive self at all times. I have found Photography as a creative pursuit which always help to improve Positive Thinking and create a Quality attitude. When we take a camera and focus on an object, we will never be satisfied until and unless the object is clear and focussed. With the newer technologies and advanced options, the modern day digital cameras aid better towards perfection. Most of the equipment comes with several controls and if we have to come out with a quality output, we always have two options. One, to use the automatic mode all the time and get the picture perfect. 2nd to study the manual and learn the nuisances of those controls and execute the options and get a perfect picture. We can use, option 1, if we do not favour risks or do not have time factor. Whereas we use option 2, if we do not mind taking risks and have fractions of seconds or minutes to change the settings before each of the shots. In reality, life and those around us, is also like the camera we use. Many times, we let them do what they are supposed to do, and wait for the result. Some other times, we take risk, talk to them, groom them and extract desired results from them. In both cases, the capacity and capability in store with them are the same, but the productivity may vary and results depends on how the machine or man were able to understand our ideas or visions and transforms them in to a wonderful product of Quality.
We saw the 2nd method very well executed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who marshalled just ordinary resources, who were with him, and who were playing with senior captains like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganuly before. A small amount of pep talk, his own performance and initiatives to lead from the front, and the result, Team India is now in the finals of the World Twenty20 cricket tournament in South Africa. A different approach, keeping the fundamentals in place, that’s all he did. It turned out to be Powerful and they all seemed to be the right person’s for the right job. It’s working like a magic so far. Time will tell whether Dhoni is our magician for the hour.
However, how far we keep the momentum going, we do not know? Because, Team India is prone to politics and already, in today’s news there is an article about Yuvraj Singh’s dad talking to press about his son not being made the captain of the Indian Team!
We don’t care, who the captain is. We want performance and Quality Performance. The choice is yours and those around.
GOD BLESS AND HAVE A GREAT DAY.
Ramesh Menon
23092007
Congrats – Team India
Congratulations to Team India for a fantastic win over Australia. Dhoni opted for Plan B instead of my Plan A. Yuvraj Singh was focussed, elegant and ustoppable, Dhoni and Rohit Sharma batted aggressively and all bowlers kept their cool and victory was ours. Hats of to you Joginder Sharma – now we want to see your batting and in you we have a new Mohinder Amarnath. Australia did not fit into the Twenty20 scheme of things. Now, India – Pakistan final. No comments on it. Just watch it.
Ramesh Menon
23092007
ClicksandWrites 
You must be logged in to post a comment.