Jayaraman Rajah Iyer is a Chartered Accountant from ICAI, New Delhi (1966) who has aunique insight into major changes in accounting in India�s history culled from experience withmajor firms across the globe. He interned at Hindustan Lever, worked his way up holding keypositions at API and Mafatlals. He introduced the principle of Likely Ultimate Costwhile appointed as Forestry Operations Accountant at Wimco. Leaving India in 1977 wasappointed as General manager of ITI Nigeria, Lagos. Selected by Sir William Castell who isnow the Chairman of the Wellcome trust, joined the Wellcome Foundation, UK to set right theaccounting functions of Wellcome Nigeria. He had also been visiting faculty at… SPJIMR, SIESSchool of Management, and Vivekananda School of Management where he taught BalancedScorecard and Strategic Cost Management based on the Proprietary IBCM (Jayaraman ownsthe copyright to Inactivity Based Cost Management, 2006).He is the son of the renowned educationalist late Rajah Iyer, Headmaster, policy makerand Member of the Legislative Council of Tamil Nadu till his death in 1974. Jayaraman�sRajah Iyer Foundation provides a support system for teachers.Major contributions to the world of Accounting:In 1966 Jayaraman learned the ropes under visiting IIM-A faculty member late RSubrahmanyam of Hindusthan Lever, submitting cost data to the Govt of India for thefortnightly increase in the selling price of vegetable oil, Dalda. Sub as he was known, used allpossible cost allocation and apportionment while Forward Commodity Exchange wasprevalent during that time. Not a single cost driver could afford to be missed as the differencein price from one fortnight to the other was so insignificant that it would not be possible toaccommodate in today's currency break-up. In due course, the Govt. of India brought in aCost Audit Dept. including medicine and petrol under Dr. Rajagopalan, the first ManagementAccountant of ICAI and ICWAI and Jayaraman�s mentor in Management Accounting.In 1972 as Forestry Operations Accountant for Wimco, Jayaraman acquired an in-depthknowledge of forest terrains and realized a discrepancy between the accounting year forWIMCO (Jan. to Dec) and the forestry season (Sep. to March). This made it difficult toestimate cost for wood sent to the factories. This prompted him to institute a system calledLikely Ultimate Cost to achieve a balanced figure through the year without overloading a costfigure at the end. It necessitated estimating cost constantly a year ahead.In the course of his duty, as per the case study detailed in the book, Jayaraman was calledupon to play whistle-blower to corrupt practices. He says �An Accountant is the trustee of thepublic wherever he/she is employed. The personal case study reported in this book is not tobe construed as whistle-blowing but performing one's duty. An Accountant undertakes socialresponsibility quietly fighting for justice where 'matsyanyaya' is prevalent. Matsya means fishand nyaya justice, where the big fish swallows the small one.� Jayaraman went throughsubsequent inquiries at great personal cost to be vindicated in his stand against corruption.His joining the Wellcome Foundation later remains possibly the only HR case study where thewhistle-blower was appointed to a company despite a written negative reference from theprevious employer specifically imploring the new employer not to appoint him.It was in 2001, called upon to prepare a normal ROI for an investment in a major ERPpackage that Jayaraman drafted a unique methodology � RoI based on intangible, coveringthe entire spectrum of usage of an ERP package and its capability rather than submitting tothe futility of its usage hovering around 8%, for almost all highly priced ERPs, based on cashflow.Inactivity Based Cost Management was born (and copyrighted) in 2006.
Fran Capois a freelance writer, standup comic, lecturer, and theGuinness Book of World Records'Fastest Talking Female. This Queens College graduate has appeared on more than 248 radio shows and 98 TV shows, includingLarry King Live, Entertainment Tonight, andGood Morning America.