Cost accountants should help reduce 'avoidable costs', fight gold plating

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday said cost accountants should help fight aberrations of gold plating, while emphasising that they ensure products and services are delivered at a competitive price without compromising on quality.

They should also help improve processes and systems to reduce avoidable costs and "make each rupee that is invested go that much further", Kovind said at a function here to mark the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.

"It is for cost accountants to ensure that wasteful activities and costs in production are removed. It is for cost accountants to help fight the aberrations of gold plating that may sometimes appear on our business landscape," he said.

All these steps would strengthen the national effort to establishing India as a low-cost and competitive manufacturing hub for world-class products, he said.

Gold plating refers to inflating project costs due to avoidable expenses which are then sought to be passed on to the end-users.

Kovind said that cost accountants are the best managers of the three Ms of a business organisation. "These are -- men and women who work there; the materials used as inputs; and the machines deployed for processing, fabrication and creation," he added.

According to him, it would be the mandate of cost accountants to ensure that products and services are delivered at a competitive price without compromising the quality.

As the economy grows, the President said he expects the demand for cost accountants to rise very sharply, not only in the corporate sector but also in government organisations.

The institute has around 75,000 members.

Meanwhile, a not-for-profit company, promoted by the cost accountants' institute, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Indian Railways to study its costing system and suggest reforms for greater efficiency.

"In the days ahead, this learning can be extended to other fields, including defence acquisitions and infrastructure building," Kovind said.

He also urged the institute to help promote financial literacy among women, particularly young women.

Minister of State for Corporate Affairs P P Chaudhary said cost accountants should guide businesses towards light and truth so that they fulfil the expectations of stakeholders while "abstaining from unethical practices".

"To remain a vibrant economy, it is important that cost in our economy remains competitive," he said at the function.