This was the topic that took more than half of today’s managerial accounting class while it didn’t probably deserve a discussion for more than 5 minutes ….. all this just because some over-enthusiastic people kept on sharing their views no matter what. The ultimate stuff was that after more than an hour of discussion on a chain of things that revolved around this, a guy suddenly puts up his hand and asks: “What is the death spiral?”
Accounting profs here are true gentlemen. They are very down to earth and try to place themselves in the shoes of the person asking a doubt and try to understand what that person is not able to. They are very happy answering even the silliest of doubts that people might have and are very happy when people from non-accounting backgrounds answer any of the questions put up. Prof Mark Finn from Kellogg who took our Financial Accounting class was probably the first prof to receive a standing ovation for 3-4 minutes after his last class. Prof Sridharan, also from Kellogg, who teaches us Managerial Accounting this term is also of the same kind, though probably extremely appreciative of correct answers. He gets really happy when people even answer questions like “what is 2+2?” or “what is the average of 600 and 800?”. A guy from one of the other sections was asked to compute the average of 400 and 800 by Prof Sridharan and it took the guy sometime to actually analyze and find out that there were no twists in the question and the answer was indeed straightforward !!!
On a lighter note …. we had a corporate finance class yesterday and “K” from my section had a basic doubt. So here goes the conversation between him and the Prof:
K: “Professor .. I have a basic doubt regarding the discussion … what is the difference between accounting value and market value?”
Prof: “I thought you should have learnt that in the Financial Accounting course in Term 1”
Prof: ” … after a pause … did you do Financial Accounting in Term 1?”
K (with the characteristic look and in his trademark tone): “Yes .. but I did not do well“.
Then there is “P” who is famous all over the campus for his really “insightful” responses to questions asked by the profs. The other day Prof Rajeshwar Upadhyay said that he was looking for some really insightful comments on a topic and asked who would like to make one when the entire class started chanting P’s name. Does P dissapoint us …. not usually … he does live up to the expectations most of the times.
There is a party being thrown by Section A ppl today … has all the usual ingredients .. booze, pro DJ etc.. The huge speakers are right by the side of my apartment. Starts 11PM which means that the rest of the day is gone … not that I would have done something great had the party not been there.
Ramkumar R 