Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

26 November    2016

Et Tu ICA – Sri Lanka!

‘Firstly, it is important that you understand that the University is unable to create a position for you. You are of course able to apply for any advertised position and there is no impediment to you expressing an interest in any such vacancy.’ – Professor Mark Wainwright – Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of NSW – through letter dated 21 October 2004 to Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

The fact that I had already developed my position as per the mandate I was recruited for is confirmed through the expressions of assessments from within – listed in Appendix 1:

These were all available within the University of NSW. Yet the Vice Chancellor ignored all that because I was insignificant to him – as the Tamil Politicians become in Parliament of Sri Lanka except when they take the side of Tamil Tigers – directly or indirectly.

The mind of the VC is now my Opposition and the minds of the others listed in the Appendix  are part of my side of governance from diverse angles.

In my response to the VC,  I wrote as follows:

[I will soon leave toward your office. I am wearing sari because I have been asked to speak at the Saraswathee Poojah celebration tonight by the Hindu community.  If I do not turn up, they will learn the reason why. Many of those families have students and staff at the University. Saraswathee is the Goddess of Education. This is hands-on education for them, in how to override ignorance through non violent communications.

I thought that Neil said you might go to Singapore? Did you change your mind? I feel Neil is trying to pick my brains. You failed to facilitate this for him and other younger generation managers. But I am generous. I work out what Neil needs and educate him in advance. Had he informed me that he was going to call the Police on 15 September I would have studied the necessary laws and educated him and saved him and the UNSW bad karma and Public embarrassment 

I strongly suggest that you apply for an arrest warrant if you do not want to be a witness in my next Trespass case. Gandhi went to prison many times – saying if it was good for India he could not refuse His Majesty’s invitation. I identify with Gandhi who explained to the masses what the laws introduced by the British meant. He said that according to the marriage laws that were passed after he arrived in South Africa, that according to that law,  their children were bastards and their wives were whores. The feelings of the Indian workers surfaced then. Until then they chose to remain ignorant – as the UNSW staff are choosing to.

It suits you doesn’t it ? – to keep them ignorant? ……..

Through the Malaysian experience of the University of New Castle,  which resulted in the termination of the services of their Vice Chancellor and the Chancellor, we have learnt that Australians are not able to Manage effectively and efficiently in foreign environments. It will be worse in Singapore where UNSW has established its foreign branch. The death penalty for drug trafficking  for the young Australian is an extreme example. Singaporeans are money-driven but they practice the Business laws in a disciplined manner. They are rewarded dynamically for their higher level of work. Their problem is lack of ownership at the higher level. Most Singaporeans feel dependent on money  for their social status. But like Macdonalds their services are reliable and their rules are understood by the average citizen.]

The immediate outcome at the University was the usual – Police arrest which was unlawful but who cared? I wrote about this:

[......I recalled also how Dr. David Garlick the founding Director of UNSW Sports Medicine had told me that Professor Bruce Dowton, the Dean of Medicine had told him 'Gaja will keep the whole University honest' ....I said that I had lawful excuse and that I was an owner and that I had not been asked by the person apparently in charge of the UNSW to leave.....They continued to drag me out....My inner voice said to me that it was a Divine message for me to take my complaints to the Federal Parliament where I understand is a plaque symbolizing Sri Sathya Sai Baba's message about Unity of Religions.....]

Giving form to that honesty ended up with Professor Wainwright doing the liquidation cleanup of UNSW Asia in Singapore. That is how Truth can return the karma to owner. But how many are ready to be honest even to themselves?

As per Economy Next report -  ‘Sri Lanka accountants adopt new code to expose corporate crime’:

[Sri Lanka’s rule-setting accountants’ body has adopted new international guidelines under which finance professionals, including auditors, are obliged to report wrongdoing in companies they audit or work for, setting aside confidentiality requirements in the public interest.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) said it has decided to adopt the “Responding to Non Compliance with Laws and Regulations” standard, known as NOCLAR, when it becomes effective internationally from 15th July 2017.
This will ensure that Sri Lanka is in line with the latest international ethics standards, it said in a statement.
The announcement was made on Thursday by CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe while addressing audit committee members and board directors at an awareness session on changes to the reporting on audited financial statements, held at the institute.]

The above reminds me of  my friend Rani – an engineer who said  she was told in Sri Lanka, about her reply to a question ‘You have revealed that not only do you not know what a horse is but also what a donkey is!’

Likewise, the current President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka – letting down my Alma Mater – whose daughter had the  courage to pull up the NSW Auditor General who declared that Auditors were getting ready to use Key Performance Indicators. He also copied the Canadian system. My discussion with him is listed in Appendix 2

When we qualify as Chartered Accountants – it is naturally taken as a promotion from individual to common thinking professional. But once we become professionals and carry a portfolio on that basis – we do not have the moral authority to go back to being individuals reporting to the Public outside our mandate and the fundamentals of our profession.  Our rules must as part of themselves include that preventive measure – to prevent collusion with the public – as usually happens to Politicians who end up becoming practitioners of cronyism once they ignore Parliamentary rules. Separation of Powers need to be confirmed more firmly where there is serious breakdown in law and order at government level. Increasing the volume of laws and rules – makes it even more chaotic under such circumstances. Unless the Accounting Body itself is specifically affected – the business of Politics is beyond the jurisdiction of the Accounting Body.

Good Politics is belief based. Bad Politics is hallucination based. Both are untouchables to intellectual Professionals.

As an Accountant knows – the Ordinary Shares in a Limited Liability company is different in makeup to Preference Shares. Professionals are Preference Shareholders and the Public are Ordinary Shareholders. An Auditor wanting to make it right – needs to renounce her/his position of Auditor to complain as ordinary  member of the Public. The way we view the same outcome would be different as per our positions. Hence the separation of powers between management and auditors and also between management and auditors. When reporting to the Public directly  or through  the Government – such reporter needs to be free of her/his auditing responsibilities. It’s not different to Medical Practitioners’ responsibility to keep their clients’ insider details confidential.

In the case of Sri Lankan Airlines, Auditors did not identify with many of the breaches highlighted  in the Weliamuna Report. Mr. Weliamuna being a lawyer – interfered with the Business of Sri Lankan Airlines by reporting without wearing the clothes of an auditor/investigator. That is the lesson Chartered Accountants need to learn from. If they play the role played by Mr. Weliamuna – then they kill the goose that lays their golden eggs. The right way is to renounce the desire for golden eggs all at the same time and be satisfied with one egg a year or become ordinary member of the Public and be satisfied with the natural egg that would sustain their existence as natural citizens.

The mind that colludes with the opposition and / or the client  becomes weak. Hence the need for conscious separation of powers and duties as per our own positions. They are specific to us and should not be generalized as if we were individual members of the Public. Those of us who are capable of developing new and progressive positions in an environment need to first resign from those positions and the benefits to become ordinary members of the Public – as Gandhi did through Truth. Unless Mr. Lasantha Wickremasinghe is ready to do that – such Public work is out of his reach and he has no mandate to bring about such a standard. The seer of Truth on behalf of the whole needs to step into the shoes of the lowest member of society. Can’t keep the cake and eat it too.

Appendix 1

1.      Thursday, 15 October 98 re my departure. Professor Dowton – then Dean of Medicine wrote ‘ Finance Management in Faculty – Dear Colleagues,  I write to advise you of a change in the personnel responsible for managing the Faculty’s finances. Gaja Paramasivam who had been devolved from Financial Services Division in the Chancellery has resigned from the University – Gaja’s last day was yesterday.  Gaja has made an extraordinary and lasting contribution to our Faculty and I am very grateful for her work with us. She will be missed by many of us. With agreement from the FSD (Financial Services Division) that this model of devolution has not been optimum for their purposes or ours, I have taken the decision to hire a Business Manager for the Faculty and that recruitment process will begin. FSD will continue to provide devolved staff to our Faculty for supporting the interface between management of our affairs and the necessary consolidation for reporting purposes in the Chancellery. In the interim, Tim Harnett has joined the faculty office to assist us in developing budget for 1999 and managing the systems which Gaja had designed. Tim comes to us from Morgan and Banks, a leading financial placement firm serving the corporate and public sector. Again, we will miss Gaja very much as she has made a tremendous contribution to our work. I know you would wish to join me in thanking her for  her many  contributions.’

2.      Professor Bruce Dowton, then Dean of Medicine – University of New South Wales (UNSW); later  Senior Executive Vice President Harvard Medical International& now Vice Chancellor Macquarie University:

‘..In her role Ms Paramasivam was charged with responsibility from the Financial Services Department for managing the interfaces between the Faculty Office and the centralized systems of accounting, financial reporting and purchasing. In addition, she was asked by me to manage the communications and activities related to finances between this office and the multiple schools and research institutions affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine. …..Ms Paramasivam has an excellent repertoire of management accounting skills. She came to UNSW with considerable experience in the hospital / health sector in Sydney as well as a number of private sector enterprises. In the space of several months she developed a new approach to budgeting for the Faculty of Medicine. She developed all the spreadsheet support for this purpose and spent a considerable amount of time working with administrative officers and senior academic staff in the Schools in developing the procedures for supporting the detailed content within the budgets. She has an excellent orientation towards client service. Her focus was on development of an activity based budgeting system which began to move us away from an inappropriate emphasis on cash management to a modified accrual system.

Ms Paramasivam quickly engendered the confidence and support of many of the administrative officers and academic leadership in this Faculty. She was always sensitive to their situations in matters related to administration and management of finances. She always indicated a preference to deliver strong client service by regularly visiting the Schools and affiliated organizations. She demonstrated patience in working with them to help them understand the rationale behind new systems and approaches to managing finances. In her dealings with centralized agencies in the organization she was always forthright and determined in her quest to improve service and improve systems used to support resource management in the faculty. She achieved remarkable success in a short period of time with the University.

3.      Dr David Garlick – Founding Director of UNSW Sports Medicine to Gaja Paramasivam

We wish to record our gratitude for your consultancy for us in our UNSW Sports Medicine Programs during the past 5 months.

Your financial expertise has been invaluable to us in providing us with accounting services of the highest order for our unit in regard to such functions as *Enabling us to understand the concepts involved in operating as an ‘off budget’ unit; * Producing a Business Plan; * Producing financial statements based on accrual accounting; * Producing Cost-Benefit analyses; * Producing financial assessments at 2-monthly intervals.

These contributions will lay the basis for our Programs to advance, based on sound business principles. It will also enable us to interact more effectively with the financial structures within the University.

Your financial services have also been invaluable in regard to the detailed development of proposals for the new undergraduate Bachelor’s course in Health & Exercise Science so that a Business Plan could be developed on the basis of student fees and the staffing positions based on these. This will lay a sound basis for effective planning for this new and exciting course. We look forward to being able to engage your consultancy in the future.

(As part of my consulting work for UNSW Sports Medicine, I prepared funding reports and successfully resourced millions of dollars in funding new projects. This is one of my specialties – from which  I believe SriLankans who are my ‘home group in terms of my qualifications would benefit enormously.)

Dr. Garlick  stated during the investigations into my complaints: ‘He considers her to be an extremely ethical and moral person . He said that she had almost a touch of genius and that this, together with her other characteristics made her so unusual that it could be possible to misinterpret her comments and suggestions.’

4.      Dr John Yu – UNSW Chancellor – confirming my skills in connecting to and influencing board of governors.

Dear Gaja, Thank you for your note about the Dean of Science.  You would appreciate that it would not be proper for me to discuss any details of this with you but I hope you might have some reassurance in the fact that the Vice Chancellor discussed the matter with me at every stage….You and I are always concerned about people and I know that these factors were also given every consideration.

The UNSW Chancellor wrote to me when I was working in Vanni on a UNDP project:

From:

j.yu@unsw.edu.au 

Date:

Tue, 18 Feb 200309:43:38 +1100

Dear Gaja,

Thank you for your greeting from Sri Lanka. I am pleased that fighting 

Has stopped but as you note, there is now an equally challenging task of helping those who suffered the consequences of many years of hatred. I am afraid those emotions will continue for a long while yet unless your people are significantly different to the peoples of so many different lands which have been literally torn apart by conflict and death.

I think that Australia and more specifically Australian can and should 

Try and help. My bias in these circumstances is to help the children and this can probably be best done by helping child health workers with basic resources but better still with training expertise. I should be a 

"Train the Trainer" approach.

Do you know what the situation is with child health nurses, midwifery

And others such as physiotherapists etc? These people and public health 

         Doctors are needed to help put preventive measures in place as quickly as possible.

I am afraid that I am pretty ignorant about what  and who is available 

On the ground.

Best wishes,

john Yu

5.      Mr. Neil Morris  - UNSW Director of Human Resources who said that I ought to be the Senior advisor to the Vice Chancellor.

Gaja, rest assured your emails are read by me……..Attached is a word document that is our guidelines for recruitment and selection. I would be happy to have your comments. It’s a large document and I suspect it will take some time to read decipher and comment on,

6.      Ms Colleen Moore – Director NSW Government Advertising Agency & Information Service:

Mrs. Gaja Paramasivam was employed as Financial Controller to the Director Government Information and Advertising from July 1990 until September 1995. The position she held was responsible for coordinating the financial operations of the Government Information Service and the Government Advertising Agency. She provided analysis of financial accounting reports on a monthly basis and carried out numerous special tasks as directed by myself. She also provided management accounting and technical support to operational  financial coordinators. Her input in ensuring the viability of these two business units  of government which operate as commercial businesses within a government framework was a great asset. Gaja’s knowledge and experience has proved fundamental in ensuring the efficient operation of these units. Her ability to analyse and explain complicated issues in a simple manner was only one of her many qualities. She demonstrated an aptitude for training staff and was patient, diligent and highly respected by all staff. Her advice to both senior management and subordinate staff was always highly regarded and she was commended by the General Manager Commercial Services. Her commitment and motivation was outstanding and I found Gaja to be a keen and industrious worker always willing to assist others in the accounting areas. Her advice to me over the 5 years has been invaluable. It would be fair to say I have relied heavily on Gaja for support in all accounting matters, and she will be hard to replace

Mr. Sendt wrote on 20 November 2003 in response to my Public demand for him to pay his Dues as an Accountant::
Ms Param, I fully understand that auditors are not to participate in the management of the entities they audit. That is basic. What I said in my report is that external financial reports only give a partial view of the performance of many public entities. Such entities are not established to earn a profit or a return on assets, but to provide services to the public. So to give a true and fair view of how well they are providing services, they also produce non-financial performance indicators. If financial reports are required to be audited – to give the public confidence in their accuracy – then so too should the performance indicators. I fail to see how you can state that this is participating in the management of the entity.

Appendix 2

Bob Sendt
NSW Auditor General

My response to the above indicates the deep wisdom I have in Audit and Compliance, largely based on my Sri Lankan training:
Thank you Mr. Sendt for  the prompt response. Most progressive organizations produce both – Financial and Non-Financial Performance Indicators. They  are both for MANAGEMENT purposes and reflect the THINKING and WORK_IN_PROGRESS. If you use Performance Indicators – then you are thinking with them. This is like the Executive Government participating in the Judicial process. Your Non-Financial Reports are the Legal records that these organizations are required to maintain – such as the Recruitment and Employee Assessment records. Where there is a big gap between Law and Practice – it requires YOUR staff to do the additional work. Taking the Performance Indicators distracts you away from this work. It is in breach of the Doctrine of Separation of  Powers. These organizations must be allowed to confidentially do the cooking and it’s up to your staff to do the spy work from the finished product to the LAW and not to their dreams and goals. You are seeking the short path because your staff are not trained to find out from the client staff what is going on. Staff often ‘hide’ information from you because you are third party. So they should. That way your staff would improve their skills. Using client-staff’s work-in-progress deters your staff from thinking through their own specialty = AUDIT on the basis of existing LAW. Then we would become a uniform society instead of a diverse society challenging each other – you within the existing law and the operational staff towards tomorrow’s laws. Challenging leads to creativity – as you can see from me. Gandhi also said that the night he was thrown out of the first class compartment of the South African RAILWAYS was his most creative experience.
You need to get the client organization to publish their non-financial reports that are mandatorily maintained. Public service organizations primarily make goodwill. This can also be positive or negative – profits or losses. They are collected together and are balanced with the total costs through Common Funds. It will be useful for you to develop a standard dollar value for these legal requirements so the People can SEE and know the Truth. Your role is not to help them make a profit but to report whether they are and how much. How about doing one on UNSW? Or State Rail?
Thank you again for responding. It has helped deeply.
Regards, Gaja – effectively in custody