BOOK REVIEW: Sen, Dilip Kumar. Anatomy of Human Resource Measurement and Accounting (Dhaka: The University Grants Commission of Bangladesh), June 2008, pp.XXVI+443, Hardcover TK.365.00, US $10.00

Abstract

Numerous challenges for the decade of 1990s still facing the industrial and economic world, where the distinctive feature of an emerging economy is the increasing emphasis on "human capital"—the knowledge, skills and experience of people rather than on "physical capital" have provided the backdrop of this study on an interdisciplinary subject (covering Economics, Accounting, Human Resource Management etc.) titled /lnazomy of Human Resource Measurement and Accounting authored by Professor Dilip Kumar Sen. Presumably, Human Resource Accounting (HRA) is a para-economic as well as a para-accounting concept. Both Economists and Accounting scholars are directly concerned with the process of analysis of the data and the theoretical constructs based thereupon. Prof, Sen’s book is the first published work on l-lRA in Bangladesh, and the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh is the publisher of this pioneering work. There has been a long cherished desire of our universities for introducing Human Resource Accounting (HRA) as a course of study in the business education stream at post-graduate level while there is no book on HRM in the market of Bangladesh. lt deserves mention in this connection that the School of Business, Independent University, Bangladesh has already introduced Human Resource Accounting (HRM) as a course ofstudy in the stream ofl—human Resource Management (HRM) at both BBA and MBA levels. So, Prof. Sen’s monumental Work will hopefully fill up the existing vacuum in this area in Bangladesh. This book adopts a systems approach in assessing the need and designing a meaningful and relevant model for HRM in the banking industry of Bangladesh. The specific objectives of the study are: (1) to conduct a comprehensive review of literature on various aspects of HRM; (2) to attempt an empirical investigation of the reactions of different experts [including Bank Executives, Personnel Executives of different banks in Bangladesh, Chartered Accountants, Cost and Management Accountants, University and University-College Teachers of Finance & Accounting and of Economics, Tax Authorities and Financial Analysts] to different HRA related issues in present day Bangladesh, aiming at studying the possible impact of HRA on personnel management decisions and also on the investment decisions of