An ace accountant

Died: Pesi Mancherji Narielvala, 82, former president of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), selected by the Government of India to speak at national and international forums, on August 8, 2008 at his residence in Calcutta.

"I had the privilege of knowing him personally for many years and enjoying his friendship and affection,” acknowledged the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee in a condolence letter, adding, "I was always impressed by his visionary leadership and his great concern for a balanced industrial development of the country and specially of the eastern region.”

"He was one of the (Twentieth) Council members who carried the torch of the Indian profession to the international arena during the formative stages of various global accountancy bodies. He is widely known for his articulation and in-depth knowledge of accounting and auditing techniques and their nuances,” noted a condolence resolution passed by the Twentieth Council of ICAI forwarded by president Ved Jain.

Pesi Narielvala: visionary leadership

"A philosopher among accountants… his vision was astounding. He realized for accounting to become a universal language, it must be codified. Single-handedly he started the technical directorate of the ICAI dictating landmark professional standards such as the Guidance Note on Expenditure during Construction. This was way back in 1970 when the International Accounting Standards Board, the US Financial Accounting Standard Board and our own Accounting Standards Board were yet to be formed. The framework for Special Reports and Certificates developed by him is the only framework that even today Indian accountants rely on when issuing a certificate or even an examination report for an IPO (Initial Public Offering),” wrote Rahul Roy, director of Ernst and Young India Private Limited in his column in the Business Standard of September 1, 2008. Roy gave Narielvala further credit for "at the age of 80 plus he took up and mastered International Financial Reporting Standards, the new body of professional standards and in one of his last public appearances captivated the audience at a chamber of commerce with his technical insights thereon.”

The newsletter of the Eastern India Regional Council of the ICAI carries tributes to Narielvala in its August 2008 issue where A. C. Chakraborti writes, "The profession has lost the best intellectual we had.” "He was an erudite speaker, perhaps unmatched in the city and in the profession,” commented Prasanta Kr Mallik.

Former senior partner of S. R. Batliboi and Company (member of Ernst and Young International), the firm organized a remembrance meeting in his honor when tributes were paid by his associates: "As I look back I can very confidently say that we owe a lot of what we are today as a firm to some of our senior partners like Narielvala who worked selflessly and tirelessly for almost 50 years and created the practice which we are all so proud of today,” commented Rajiv Memani, country managing partner.

He was associated for over 25 years with the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce whose director general Bernhard Steinruecke and president Werner Heesen wrote, "With his vast professional experience and his standing of the highest repute in the accountant and legal community he made a very special contribution in promoting relations between India and Germany and to the standing of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce in India” being the chairman of the Eastern Region Council for over six years when the Chamber’s activities "increased manifold.”

Connected with several other national and bilateral chambers of commerce, he was former managing committee member of The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and former chairman of its direct tax committee. He was also chairman of the technical committee of an international conference held at New Delhi by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce for the purpose of promoting investment in India and participated in Indo-American Chamber delegation meetings in the US, being a member of the Indo-US Joint Business Council, notes his life profile.

A few years ago he was selected by the Government of India to lecture on taxation with special reference to foreign collaboration at London, Paris, Dusseldorf, Zurich and Dubai, and was appointed by the Government as a member of a High Level Committee on competition policy and competition law where he was involved in the actual drafting of the proposed Indian Competition Act.

One of his contemporaries Amal Kumar Sen who has his firm of solicitors, advocates and company secretaries in Calcutta, recalled attending Narielvala’s lectures on the budget organized by institutes like the ICAI, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, etc. "He was a father figure in the ICAI,” added Sen, referring to his "nice, cool temperament and amiable nature… I am sure that nobody who has come in contact with him will be able to forget him.”

Calcutta Gavashni, the newsletter of the Calcutta Zoroastrian Community’s Religious and Charity Funds chose to feature Narielvala in its February-March 2008 issue stating, "His list of achievements in the corporate world makes awesome reading and yet as a person Pesi is modest and has no airs and graces.” After his early schooling at the Anglo Gujarati School followed by St Joseph’s and St Xavier’s he passed his BA with English honors, standing second in the University, and then completed his LLB, securing the first rank. As he told Calcutta Gavashni, "Options in those days were limited. Initially I wanted to go into the Indian Civil Service (ICS) but in 1942 India was in the midst of the Independence movement and there was a great deal of concern of what would happen to a service like the ICS. This prompted me to look at a field which was not in the spotlight as such at that juncture — accountancy.” At the ICAI examinations he was able to earn a silver and gold medal and subsequently an honors citation in England from the English Institute of Chartered Accountants. He did his articleship with S. R. Batliboi under the guidance of Nariman Master and Victor Viccajee and rose to become the senior partner in that firm. "In the midst of academic and corporate achievements he met his wife Khurshed,” notes Calcutta Gavashni regretting how their 37 years of togetherness were cut short with Khurshed’s sudden demise in 1991.

Among the other institutions with which Narielvala was connected were the Calcutta Management Association where he was president, the All India Management Association of which he was council member and the United Bank of India where he was director.

Chairman of various charitable trusts and foundations, at a condolence meeting organized by the Calcutta based SREI Foundation he was described as "an inspiring philosopher to SREI Foundation for educating the people especially from middle class. An extremely gentle and generous person, his absence will be deeply felt by all those who came in contact with him,” as noted Hari Prasad Kanoria, managing trustee of the Foundation and chairman and editor-in-chief of Business Economics. President of the Oral School for the Deaf for the past five years Narielvala had also served as president of the Bengal Club, being only the second Parsi to do so.

As reminisced Nawshir Mirza, one of his colleagues from S. R. Batliboi, "Speaking of his private persona, his enjoyments were often childlike. He often enjoyed Walt Disney cartoons, loved good food and drink, delighted in watching English and Hindi (movies) and was fond of music (though he drew the line at Bollywood dhak dhak). Retaining his zest and fine sense of humor until the end, he had told Calcutta Gavashni, "I’d rather grow old in Calcutta than anywhere else in the world and the sense of belonging within the Parsi community here is truly remarkable.”

An astronomer, a pianist, a disciplinarian and a stickler for punctuality who was known to even apologize to his subordinates if he was five minutes late, on the last day of his life too he read his daily newspapers, folded them and placed them in the bin by half past ten in the morning as was his daily schedule. He then called in his secretary of the past three decades and made her write down how he would like to divide some of his possessions among his attendants and loyal helpers. Before sitting down for lunch he said to her, "Anne, now I can die in peace,” reported Roy. He did so at night after dinner.

The accomplished accountant is survived by his daughter Pervin Phiroze Tarapore and brothers Dr Firoze and Navroze.