The concept of Human Resource Accounting (HRA) has been appreciated by the accounting profession and, by and large, its usefulness has also been acclaimed in the literature. With the emergence of knowledge economy, HRA has been accepted as a point of immense importance and the growing awareness about it among stakeholders has been noticeable. The present article makes a comparison among three well-known IT companies, namely Infosys, Satyam and KPIT Cummins, with regard to their HRA practices. This article also identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the companies in respect of such practices and finally suggests a suitable HR disclosure model for the IT companies.

Human Resource Accounting (HRA) measures the cost and value of human resources to an organization and presents the information in a significant manner in the financial statements to communicate their value with changes over the period and results obtained from their utilization to the different stakeholders. It mainly caters to the information need of the HR professionals, senior managers and investors for making effective decisions. Different schools of thought in the domain of accounting have developed different methodologies for the valuation of HR, and suggested different approaches for treating the most valuable asset of the organization. But there was no unanimity on the part of the accounting professionals. However, presently the concept of HRA is being used by the HR professionals as an approach to human capital management. It is also found in the concerned literature that HRA can be used as an effective tool for strategic Human Resource Management (HRM). Despite the difficulties associated with HRA, in India, some giant public sector companies as well as private sector enterprises of international repute have been continuing their HRA practices.

The present study attempts to: (1) make an overall analysis of HRA practices in India, and (2) examine the HRA practices in the Indian IT sector.

HRM Review, Human Resource Accounting, HRA, Human Resource Management , HRM, Information Technology, IT, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, ICAI, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, GAAP, Knowledge Economy, human capital management, National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation, NASDAQ.