The Adventures Of Debit & Credit - Chapter 3 - The Data Leak

 If you haven't read the previous chapters of 'The Adventures of Debit & Credit - A punny accounting story', then you should check them out first!

Chapter 1 - Let us go to Finance!

Chapter 2 - Meeting Income and Expense

Chapter 3 - The Data Leak

It was an ordinary day at work, however just as the sea is always the calmest before a Tsunami, ordinary things preceded the extraordinary. (Also ordinary symptoms such as cold, cough, fever, and sore throat precedes coronavirus, so if you have these common symptoms get yourself tested.)  

All four of our characters were peacefully focusing on their work, clicking away at their screens until Income yelled out from his cubicle, “What the ……GUYYYSSS...did you look at the news?”

“Why what happened?”, Debit asked nonchalantly, turning around in his chair.  

“Oh my god! This shit is huge…maaann, this is gonna blow your mind up! Come see!”

And that is pretty much how Debit, Credit, Income, and Expense sat huddled in the tiny cubicle, peering at the computer screen, and with each word they read, the shock on their faces becoming more and more prominent.

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If we were to look at the galaxy in which Debit and Credit lived, it was similar to ours, yet different. If we were to fit the societies of Finance, Accounting, and Economics in our ideologies, we could say that Finance is a capitalistic society, Accounting is a communistic society and Economics is a socialistic society.

(And this is just a story, I am not propagating any political ideology here.)

Accounting was communistic but border-line communistic, not the hardcore kind. Yes, it was rigid, with rules set, if it was supposed to be that way, then it was supposed to be that way, you could not change it unless the government allowed it. The Accounting society’s government was called the “Audit”. The people who governed it were called “Auditors”. And the Auditors were entrusted to ensure that the Accounting society functioned in a smooth error-free way, that there were no misstatements and things were true and fair. The law of the land was called the “Standards of Accounting”, and everyone in Accounting was expected to follow these standards - word to word. Even though communistic, the governors were also expected to follow rules to ensure perfect harmony, and their rules were called the “Standards of Auditing”. Anyways, despite rules and less freedom, the citizens were happy as there were a lot of benefits too. Everyone knew what they were supposed to do and they were content with it, no one really wanted to think out of the ledger lines. The citizens of Accounting believed that balance was important, every item, every entry, every adjustment was important because one slight error could cause imbalance and it would cause a massive difference. And to maintain this balance, rules were important.   

On the other hand, you had Economics. Economics could be called a socialistic society as it was always for all. While Finance followed the total private ownership model and Accounting called for total government control, Economics found the sweet spot in collaboration.  Economics could have boasted of achieving the perfect balance between communism and capitalism and that was socialism.

Capitalism says you work, you earn and that was how it wan in Finance.  Communism says, everyone should contribute as per their ability, but you will get things according to your needs and not your contribution.  In accounting, individualism wasn’t as important as collectivism. Socialism says, everyone contributes to the society as per their ability and profits should be distributed based on each individual’s contribution, but also basic care should be given to all.

Economics society had free amenities for all its citizens, the earnings divide was low, and it promoted collaborative ownership. Economics even had a system of Universal Basic Income and they proclaimed that it was a successful model. Finance had always scoffed at it and had remarked, “If you give something free, no one will ever work.”

Now, coming back to Finance where our buddies Debit and Credit were residing and as mentioned before Finance was deeply rooted in capitalism. In addition to that, the society was also corrupt. Credit and Debit who hadn’t paid any attention were suddenly face-to-face with it.

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By the time our group of four finished reading the news they were aghast, their faces etched with the fury of injustice and unfairness.

The headline was “The biggest data leak in the history of Galaxy”. And this data leak called out the powerful leaders of the Finance world who were evading taxes and whisking off their money to offshore planets. Moreover, this list included politicians, socialites, prominent figures, religious leaders, corporations, businesses, etc. who were widely respected.  People and Corporations who paid zero taxes whilst earning billions of dollars were also on the list. 11.5 million files, 2.6 terabytes of data, all set to reveal the amount of money evaded in taxes through a well-weaved layer of transactions using loopholes of laws. How big is 2.6 terabytes you might ask, well, 1TB is equal to 1000 GB and 1GB is equal to 1000 MB, so it roughly totals up to 26 LAC megabytes. And the amount of taxes evaded (not fully found out, still in process) totaled up to a grand sum of 1.28 billion.  To top it off, Mr. Broker was also included in that list. It was common knowledge that their company paid pretty much zero taxes despite being the largest shopping mall in the entire galaxy, but no one ever did anything about it.

The list was massive and the only thing more massive than the list? The money trail.

And just like that, the entire atmosphere of Finance had changed. After the leak, there were protests on the streets. Politicians were forced to resign, socialites, CEOs, and prominent figures were forced to apologize and give up their positions.  People were angry, the working class specifically. The working class who were the consumers of these rich businesses and also their employees felt cheated.   It was unfair that there wasn’t a way to just and equitable living. The Wall-street which was usually abuzz with revelers was calm and quiet, the Stock Market Index was at an all-time low, the mood on the street was of melancholy and unfairness. Humans have an innate sense of justice and an innate sense of caregiving. Everyone wants justice – to see the wrong-doer punished and the victim to be cared for. The only thing was that it happened only in books and movies, in real life, people got away with even worse things like rape and murder, tax evasion, and hiding money was just the tip of the ice-berg.

News channels and Newspapers pounced on the news like dogs, demanded that the nation wanted to know, know where was the money. They demanded justice for the working class, the poor who suffered while the rich enjoyed. And all of them only had two questions now, “What was going to happen?” and “What should be done now?”

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Phew, that sounds terrible!! Well, looks like our buddies are in for a ride, what will they do next? What happens to their lives now? Keep reading to find out what happens and stay tuned for Chapter 4!!

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below!! I would love to hear from you all and it also motivates me to write!!

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This chapter had close references to the “Panama Papers” leak, research links for reading if you guys want to gain additional info –

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-panama-papers

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/counting-the-panama-papers-money-how-we-reached-1-28-billion/

Also if you want to read more:

https://www.history.com/news/socialism-communism-differences#:~:text=Key%20Differences%20Between%20Communism%20and%20Socialism&text=Under%20communism%2C%20there%20is%20no,based%20on%20what%20they%20need.&text=By%20contrast%2C%20under%20socialism%2C%20individuals%20can%20still%20own%20property 

Take care and stay safe!

Edit -- Read chapter 4 here