by BISMumbai Correspondent

The annual MumbaiSalesians' Accountants Meet, long-awaited and delayed owing to the COVID-19 situation, was finally inaugurated on 09 February at the Don Bosco Provincial House, Matunga-Mumbai. A total of 50 accountants from 41 MumbaiSalesian presences/institutions across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and MadhyaPradesh are participating in the 02-day programme [09-10 February] discussing, reviewing and updating their skills in using the mandated Acme ERP developed by Bosco Soft Technologies.

MumbaiSalesians' Economer Father Manuel Murzello opened the proceedings, inviting Brother Bryce Fernandes to lead the assembly into a prayer song invoking the divine spirit. Immediately after, Father Murzello welcomed the participants, saying, "this long overdue meeting is an occasion for all of us to learn from one another for the purpose of reviewing and updating our skills. It is also to learn something new in our own field of expertise from the various resource-personnel who will guide us through this 02-day process. It is a moment for us to release the new HR Policy-prepared by MumbaiSalesians' Province Finance Officer-Savarino D'Souza, with inputs from various experts, including Fathers Roy Noronha and Gregory D'Almeida, as a guideline response to the request of many administrators and accountants for a specific policy."

MumbaiSalesians' Provincial-Father Savio Silveira then released the HR Policy booklet and presented copies to Vice-Provincial Father Ashley Miranda and PFO Savarino D'Souza. Addressing the gathering, he said,"many of you have been with us for varying lengths of time, and you are all extremely skilled in your task of maintaining accounts. These 02-days you will be discussing Acme ERP, new policies, legal compliances and so forth. Today however, I address you not just as accountants in Don Bosco institutions , but as collaborating partners in the educative and outreach mission of Don Bosco in each of our institutions/schools/works. You are a Don Bosco accountant, and so, what is our objective-focus? All of us are working for children and young people, and among these especially, the poor young people. You are part of this mission, part of these works, part of the educative system. I wish each of you asks yourself, how am I contributing to the building up and outreach to the poor, other than the work of financial book-keeping alone."

Enumerating the possibility of being involved in the entire educative mission, Father Silveira said, "I hope each of you will build up relationships in your workplaces, through interaction and conversation; through the ability to respond with empathy to the less fortunate, and the financially marginalised. I also invite each of you to contribute by advising us - Fathers and Brothers - about possible savings and cutting down of expenses, so that concessions for the deserving underprivileged students can be provided. There are many roles you can play and which you must play. I wish, you go beyond receipts, payments, balance-sheets and play the very important role of being Don Bosco accountants."

The programme on Day 01 primarily consists of reviewing the Acme ERP cloud-based application for religious and non-profit organizations, currently in use across the Don Bosco institutions. The Acme team from the Bosco Soft Technologies Research and Development wing at Yelagiri Hills [Tamil Nadu], is to walk the participants through a revision of the 07-module framework software and menu, consisting of: financial accounting, statutory compliances, asset management, stock tracking, payroll processing, and networking. On Day 02, various topic-specific inputs and sessions on tax and accountancy matters, with hands-on familiarity with the TRACES website [https://www.tdscpc.gov.in/app/login.xhtml], and EPF website [http://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_en/] by sector-professional resource facilitators, will wind up the meet.

MumbaiSalesians' PFO D'Souza said, "this is a much-needed meet and with this we hope to bring all the Don Bosco institutions across the province on the same page. It will ease out many issues and help us proceed further in a systematic manner. Moreover, this will be helpful for all our accountants to contribute better not only to the financial management, but also to the overall mission."