Human Resource Accounting Practices in Public and Private Sector: An Indian Experience

Abstract

The most significant resource for any organization is its human resources or human assets as they are labeled. The usage and value of physical, financial, and technical resources are all dependent on the human resource's knowledge, skills, and competence. Ironically, the latter three resources are properly recorded in the accounting books as according to the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), while human resources are completely overlooked. “Human Resource Accounting (HRA) is a process of recognizing and computing data about human resources and communicating this information to the interested stake holders. It involves measuring the costs of recruiting, selecting, hiring, training, and developing human resources in an organization”.

HRA is extremely important not just to management, but also to analysts and employees of the organization. It guides the management in the improved deployment, scheduling, and administration of human capital inside the organization.

It is absolutely necessary that some method of determining the value of the intelligence, expertise, ability, competency, skills, and motivation of the human element must be duly ascertained along with the costs and expenditure incurred on procurement, training and retaining.. The current study attempts to understand HRA and its models from a broader perspective in selected Indian organizations and make suitable suggestions and recommendations thereof.