Coimbatore has been a leading city of entrepreneurs, who had seamlessly woven both social concern and growth from the very early days of the textile city's evolution.
Coimbatore has been a leading city of entrepreneurs, who had seamlessly woven both social concern and growth from the very early days of the textile city's evolution.
The city owes much to these visionaries, and also to the professionals who stood by these entrepreneurs for decades.Its incumbent on the society to celebrate such high order professionals by remembering them for posterity.
Several masters did their best and the firm of Chartered Accountants, Messrs. M.S.Jagannathan & Viswanathan was among the stellar ones.
These professionals were important for they served at a time when the textile industry, movie business, engineering business, jewelry sector, transport, infrastructure, business development in the Nilgiris, education, the trade union movement, the freedom movement, changes in the law had played a complementary role in a fast-paced manner.
Melapalayam Sudarshana Iyengar was a temple priest and was blessed with five brilliant sons M.S.Srinivasa Iyengar, M.S.Krishnaswamy Iyengar, M.S.Rangaswamy Iyengar, M.S.Jagannatha Iyengar, and M.S Aravamuthu Iyengar.
They were always attached to the Lakshmi Narayana Perumal temple in Melapalayam village, near Karur. "The temple is the home to the icon of Lord Santhanakrishna who blesses people with progeny. Once upon a time a childless couple were advised to offer five such icons in different temples and were immediately blessed with a child on offering the fifth icon in this ancient temple. Our ancestry owes itself to this place," mentioned Melapalayam V.Jegannathan, the grandson of the renowned Auditor M.S.Jagannatha Iyengar.
The firm used to be known as M.S.Krishnaswamy & Jagannathan until it was reorganized as M.S.Jagannathan & Viswanathan in the year 1967. The firm was established thanks to the support of M.S.Srinivasa Iyengar, the first son of Sudarshana Iyengar.
He did his Maths (Hons) at the St.Josephs in Trichy and worked there in order to get his brothers educated. Therefore he was the last in his family to do the GDA (Government Diploma in Accounting - equivalent to the current programme) and join the firm. M.S.Srinivasa Iyengar was a brilliant intellectual and was quite knowledgeable in the corporate law. His expertise in corporate law made him the most popular consultant those days. He was known as a 'doyen of company law ' by the society of his times. A number of senior advocates used to seek his guidance before getting on with their case in the court.
On account of his command over the subject M.S.Srinivasa Iyengar was often approached by institutions and the Government authorities considered his words to be a gospel. His lectures in several forums were made available on print and a cursory glance of the publications is sure to impress any expert. Some of the lectures were on topics like 'Divisible Profits', 'Lien on Shares in Companies', 'Vacation of Office of Director of a Company under the Companies Act of 1956' etc.,
The founder of the parent firm M.S.Krishnaswamy was the second brother and he had done his diploma in textile engineering at Mumbai before qualifying as an Auditor.
The textile background of M.S.Krishnaswamy brought in a number of textile mills as clients and most of the mills were with M.S.Krishnaswamy & Jagannathan from the very start. He was responsible for the firm being in both Chennai and Coimbatore. The third brother M.S.Rangaswamy Iyengar completed his GDA, joined the firm and got settled down in Trichy while the youngest M.S.Aravumuthu Iyengar became a professional photographer with Hindustan Times with a special emphasis on cricket.
M.S.Jagannatha Iyengar (MSJ) joined the firm after completing his GDA in Sydenham at Mumbai (1924). He was a leading Chartered Accountant and was quite popular in western Tamilnadu. MSJ had his office at Ganesh Mahal earlier and was an active Rotarian. He was instrumental in bringing in the requisite procedures for Rotary at Coimbatore and was pretty close to G.D.Naidu and G.K.Sundaram (Lakshmi Mills). In fact, G.D.Naidu showed him the first U.M.S calculator. The firm used to audit the accounts of the movie studio, Modern Theatres Limited for years. He brought in upanyasakarthas like Balakrishna Sastrigal, Mukkur Lakshminarasimhachariar, and Santhanagopalachariar through the Guru Guha Gana Sabha and these programmes used to be held at the Purandaradasar Hall and Savita Hall as well. MSJ's residence was perhaps the third one in R.S.Puram. The house used to be on Diwan Bahadur road and was listed among the best looking 25 houses of South India by A.C.C.
Circa 1935, Gandhiji requested M.S.Krishnaswamy & Jagannathan to audit the accounts of Harijan and they did it aplomb. The communication received from the Mahatma wherein he thanks them is still preserved by the family in their office which contains really ancient furniture and a very old fan. M.S.Krishnaswamy Iyengar was an active member of the Indian National Congress and he supported the freedom movement.
He wore khadi all his life and C.Rajagopalachariar had visited their residence along with Sadasivam during the heydays of the nationalist movement. The firm was reconstituted in the year 1967 and S.V.Viswanathan, the first apprentice of the parent firm became a partner. Viswanathan was known for his auditing skills from the very beginning and his skill was recognised by MSJ who made him a partner. The apprentice turned partner was a devout person who was known for his simple approach and on one occasion when a client sought his blessings in a temple, Viswanathan gently suggested that all were equal in front of God and that one should only seek divine benediction in a temple.
M.J.Rajagopal and M.J.Vijayaraghavan, the sons of MSJ did their part for a long time. Auditor M.J.Vijayaraghavan was a foodie who used to frequent Original Viswanatha Iyer, Sri Krishna Bhavan (famous for its masala roast), Sri Krishna Sweets, Geetha Cafe etc., M.J.Vijayaraghavan was a person of great maturity who accepted both pleasure and pain with great equanimity. According to old client R.Damotharan, "M.J.Vijayaraghavan was a man of high integrity and he used to consider the issues faced by his clients as his own. He used to give enduring advice and stood on the right side of law and dharma at all times." M.J.Vijayaraghavan was a very good wildlife photographer.
The firm was associated with the Auditors Association from the very beginning and its partners have served as office bearers in the interest of the chapter. The approach and vision of the firm can be evidenced by going to the following point made by M.S.Srinivasa Iyengar in his lecture on 'Divisible Profits'.
"It must be remembered that money is only a medium or the mechanism of exchange, that the price of an asset is not the same as its value, and that the value of an asset may remain the same while its price may change. Its rather unfortunate that the yardstick, money, which is used in measuring the value of an asset is not constant. But, the change in the value of money in a given period is not taken into consideration in the valuation of money on hand at the beginning and end of the period." (Source: Divisible Profits - a talk given by M.S.Srinivasan, Chartered Accountant on the November 26, 1959 before the Chartered Accountants Students Association at Madras).
Messrs M.S.Jagannathan & Viswanathan came from a rare tribe of professionals who adhered the rule of law and dharma or righteousness all along. The times and story of this firm throw light on the freedom movement and its ethos, the national interest, the progress, and business environment in Coimbatore during its fast-growing years coupled with the high level of intelligence and integrity found in the professionals who stood in the interest of growth backed by righteousness.