The Hindu Business Line : `CA continues to attract the best of the talent available'

"This is the best of all times to be in our business... The challenges are great. The future will be the province of those who rise to meet them with conviction, courage and with commitment." With these words began the stint of Mr Ramesh Rajan, a few days ago, as the new Chairman and CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers' India. Business Line caught up with Mr Rajan to get his views on matters that can be important to professionals-in-the-making.

"Chartered accountants (CAs) hold high social and professional repute in India. The CA course is the preferred choice for the students especially from the commerce field and continues to attract the best of the talent available," he says. "Of late, the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) has also undertaken several initiatives to encourage more students to join the course and to qualify at a young age. The ICAI periodically revises the course to meet the growing global demands and opportunities and to make the course more practical. The calibre of many articled trainees is extremely high."

Excerpts from an interview:

What are the newer opportunities where the services of professional accountants are turning to be relevant and therefore in demand?

CAs, on account of their intense training and skill-set, have many professional opportunities, more so in an emerging economy such as ours. With business boundaries fast disappearing and the world becoming one market place, professional avenues open up both for domestic and overseas clients. Some of the areas including newer ones, where huge opportunities exist are:

Financial Reporting/Global Capital Markets

Accounting Standards are getting harmonised across the world. In addition to US GAAP, IFRS is emerging with many countries having adopted IFRS. Different stakeholders have realised the importance of having an uniform accounting language to ensure consistency and the quality of financial information made available across the globe to stakeholders.

Under the circumstances, there are significant initiatives underway for converging towards a common GAAP, which provides huge opportunities to CAs to be involved and to contribute to these initiatives and add credibility and contribute significantly to build the overall public trust through various attest functions such as Financial Statement Audit, IFRS/US GAAP Reporting and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. In addition, there are opportunities in the areas of global capital markets as more and more Indian companies are becoming multi-nationals by expanding into overseas markets by acquiring companies or establishing operations in other countries where CAs can play a significant role in financial due-diligence and reporting.

Tax compliance, Tax Planning and advice, including compliance with transfer pricing norms:

There are several opportunities, such as, global direct/indirect tax compliances, managing tax risk in mergers & acquisitions to ensure the cash flows are optimised, transfer pricing compliance in the areas such as inter-company pricing arrangements between related business entities, including transfers of intellectual property; transfers of tangible goods; services and loans and other financing transactions, helping the clients in managing and compliance with indirect taxes such as VAT, excise duty, customs duty and service tax, etc.

Crisis Management, including forensic accounting:

Opportunities exist for providing full range of recovery services covering turnarounds, restructuring plans, and exit strategies. There exist huge opportunities in forensic accounting and corporate investigations.

Consulting and various advisory services:

CAs can render various services in the area of corporate finance including project finance, M&A services, private equity advisory services, valuations and strategy covering valuation consulting, modelling and business planning, accounting valuations. In the area of transaction services opportunities are available in financial due diligence and structuring services etc.

Process Improvement:

In this area CAs can help clients to enhance performance by identifying areas for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of key business operations including the financial effectiveness, IT effectiveness, governance risk and compliance.

Information Technology:

Information Technology is critical to every business today, be it big or small. As clients face increasingly complex problems in maintaining their competitive edge in the face of various business challenges, IT plays a key role as an enabler in providing a holistic solution to such complex problems. CAs can assist in development and application of technology, management and regulation of electronic transactions and data including providing assurances of the systems and related processes.

Government reforms:

CAs can play a huge role in the area of disinvestment of public sector undertaking, restructuring of public undertakings, monitoring the funding of infrastructure projects and streamlining the accounting in local bodies.

Off-shoring/outsourcing:

Many multi-national companies and financial services organisations are moving their back office operations to India to take advantage of huge skill available and as well as the cost arbitrage. This provides immense opportunities to CAs, who are well positioned to provide end-to-end solutions to help companies manage the whole process.

With increasing work pressures and syllabus content is it not becoming tough for the CA student of today to cope with the studies? How do you suggest that the student can handle the pressures?

Many of the students joining the chartered accountancy course are fully aware of the stringent standards as well as of the pressure one would have to undergo whilst completing the course. However, having chosen to do chartered accountancy course over other options including newer opportunities, students are willing to put in all efforts to be successful in the course. Because of the increased exposure, students are aware of the opportunities and willing to seize the same and are fully committed. The course offers them tremendous opportunities to work with different industries, systems and people, which facilitates all round development at a young age.

ICAI has also undertaken various initiatives to ensure that only students with right aptitude will join the course and have made the course more practical which has also helped the student to cope with the pressure.

What are the qualities that make an accounting professional successful?

In addition to strong technical skills and knowledge of business, some of the qualities which are required to make an accounting professional successful include, commitment with honesty and integrity to provide quality to clients and all stake holders. A CA needs to be up-to-date with the developments in the auditing and accounting fields and well versed with international practices. CAs need to be independent of their clients and maintain objectivity in all professional matters.

On the challenges before PwC as Big 4:

The Indian economy provides immense opportunities to CAs and the challenge for us in the profession would be in meeting the growing market demands. Just as multinational companies setting up operations in India, may Indian companies are becoming global players.

Foreign direct investment is steadily growing and many multi-national companies are moving their back office operations to India. Indian companies in the quest to become global players are either acquiring companies or setting up operations outside India.

The challenge for the profession would be to ensure that we are prepared to seize in all the opportunities and to provide quality, seamless service to clients. Retaining good talent in the professional will be an extremely big challenge as CAs have many opportunities outside the profession.

We are operating in a heightened regulated environment and the profession needs to be extremely vigilant to ensure that we are properly managing risk whilst delivering high quality service to clients and meeting and exceeding the expectations of all stakeholders.

MuraliDe@gmail.com

D. Murali

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