Page 75 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

21. I was as much pleased as much

the auditors were disappointed

I n my last branch, two revenue auditors visited there for checking

correct rate of interest and calculations as well as application of
other service charges in all loan accounts. They spent whole day
as per mandate and met me to submit their rectification report
in the evening before leaving. They told me that they were baffled on
their findings. I got curious what did they mean. They were disappointed
that they could not detect any error of calculation or application of
interest rates. They wondered how it could happen here when it
happened at none of the six other branches audited by them.

I knew that we had manageable volume of business, capable officers who
were particular in checking mistakes. On their observations, I was as
much pleased as much they were disappointed. I told them, "I am
fortunate to have capable officers with me at my branch who calculated
interest correctly not once but four times in a year, i.e., every quarter."
I just jovially remarked, "Might be, you have not done your job well."
They felt bad but I pacified them saying, "Please don't mind, I was just
joking and did not doubt your hard work." In a lighter vein, I again said
to them, "I can tell one mistake we have made which you could not
detect. We rounded off the loan amounts outstanding to the next higher
thousand instead of next higher hundred and applied interest on this
notional higher amount. Why had you not been able to detect it?"

They now wanted to check this fact and started scanning the accounts
of the related ledger with large value accounts where actually we had
done this. They also started writing their report and left telling me that

72 | A Banker down the Rabbit Hole