CA R Thanammai - When there is no wind, row !

The significant theme of my life has to be that I am a Chartered Accountant, a qualification I am eternally thankful to God for. My life is pretty similar to most of you who may be from non metros.  It is only that my life has had some strange twists and turns with an ending that is reasonably comfortable now.  I was born and brought up in Suchindrum (a small village in kanyakumari District) and my father worked in the temple having a monthly Income of Rs.150/- which he used to feed our 5 member family. Our family is typically what one would describe as below poverty line and my school studies went on in a Government school

 I was the school topper with no means to study further.  I had to adopt every trick in the book from hunger strikes not to mention the copious tears to get to a college.  And graduate, I did with 80% marks in Bcom and the benefit of a Merit scholarship. My brother Joined in Indian Army and with his support I reached Chennai to pursue CA. But before completion of my CA Article ship, I was compelled to marry a groom employed in the Navy. 

I did not like the idea of being married because it spoilt my education and I fought like a cat with my husband at every possible opportunity.  He bore it all patiently and won my heart over. Soon, we had a baby daughter and Education’s loss was a personal gain for I believed I had the best husband in the world.  I was in a state of domestic bliss with a second son and a strong 7 year marriage

Fate dealt a cruel blow and my husband met with an accident unexpectedly and left me alone with 2 kids aged 2 and 4. I was depressed and my future looked bleak if not non existent. My professional life as well as my personal Life were both half way at sea.

God showed me the way and I was now determined to completed the CA course.  If not for my sake, for the sake of my childrens future.  I did not have the money to support my kids and both my parents and in laws were not able to either.  As a one group Inter CA pass, I joined in  Muthoot Fincorp Ltd in Nagercoil for a monthly salary of Rs.2000/-and worked for 5 years and saved a lakh and with that amount i came to chennai leaving my kids with my mother. God was witth me and I completed 2nd group of CA Inter as well.  The days were terrible as I stayed in a Hostel alone and had left my children behind.  A life, that I would not wish for anyone.

Life offers solace as much as it offers problems.  I was blessed with a fine mentor a certain Mr.R K Nair who was a chartered Accountant and the GM of Muthoot Fincorp Ltd. He only motivated me to continue my studies and always told me that he believed that I could conquer the whole world and not just a CA course.

In the 12 years that had passed between my articles and the exams, the course had undergone a drastic change.  I remember attending Accounts classes and would be in tears as I would not even understand a word.  I remember crying all the way for a 5 km stretch from my classroom to the hostel.  I studied all day and night and was thrilled that I cleared the final first group in the first attempt itself ( after a 12 year break ). The result restored my confidence but group two eluded me with three attempts. 

The days from 2000 to 2007 were one of hunger and self pity.  My first and my only job to date has been with leading private bank where I am a Senior Manager, and in the last 6.5 years I have managed to pick a property, a car and save some money as well.  Presently my daughter is doing CA/CPA and my son is doing B Com 1st year.

I am eternally thankful to Shri M P Vijayakumar, Shri N R Govindarajan, Shri G Sekar and Shri Sivakumar who I hope are reading this blog somewhere.   I see a lot of young kids complaining about failures and I have only one piece of advice for them.  When there is no wind , please row and there is a God guiding your boat and your oars.  Tough times do not last, tough people do ! 

For any one in need, am always there to lend a shoulder.

CA Thanammai R

CA G Karunya - Ten Years of Balance !

This blog is in reference to wonderful initiative started by my colleague CA Sripriya. I really appreciate her efforts of sharing experiences among women CAs. I will consider myself very privileged, if my experiences could inspire some of my colleagues to come into CA practice. My name is Gandavarapu Karunya  and I am based at Bangalore.

It was my father’s dream to have a CA in our family which made me take up commerce in +2 (intermediate in Andhra Pradesh) inspite of scoring excellent marks in Science in SSC. Once I completed Intermediate with a state 4^th rank, all the disapprovals and suggestions of switching to Science, even in second year faded away to appreciations.

Lack of coaching facilities, unavailability of book stores selling CA related materials, being the first batch of CA Foundation with no seniors suggesting how to prepare, restrictions of family not to go out of town for guidance, pressure of completing degree alongwith CA course -nothing seemed as a hurdle, when my eye was set on the bigger target of being called “Chartered Accountant”.

I was the only student, who could clear from Guntur both Intermediate and Final exams in the first attempt those days. Achieving University first in B.com in Nagarjuna University and All India 1^st among ladies In ICWAI (overall 17^th) were icing on the cake !!! Becoming CA at 21 years of age was a  dream come true for me and my family!!

I worked with ONGC Rajahmundry before moving to Bangalore after marriage. Later, I joined Infosys in software development domain taking up this new challenge of learning software development. After being five years in industry, when I was on an excellent career growth path, I was blessed with a baby girl. It was at this time, I decided to give up my comfortable Infosys job to excel in the job of motherhood.

After about three years of break, when my daughter started going to school, I decided to start my own practice as a Chartered Accountant. This was a big challenge- on both the fronts. On family front, my parents and in-laws were also not staying in the same city, so practically I had no back-up for bringing up my daughter. Therefore from the very inception, I made sure that on most of the days, I would finish my work by 3PM, by the time my daughter returned from her school. This aspect of mine, impressed one of my clients, Mr.TGC Prasad, so much that he covered this in his book “Unusual People do things differently”. 

On professional front, it was not easy either. I was earlier never in practice and  had also spent a few years in software development away from traditional CA domain before taking the break .Adding to all this, there was no Chartered Accountant in the family, no Godfathers in the profession..

I started with just one employee in my own house and took on accounting on outsourcing basis .Ever since, there was no looking back….. We gradually expanded our services to audits, consultancy and company secretarial services as well. Now, our firm has made successful networking with different lateral professionals thereby providing one stop solution for entrepreneurs.

In this August , when I celebrated ten years of my practice with my 30+ office team , wellwishers and immensely satisfied clients ,I realized only this CA qualification can give me the opportunity of being successful even after taking a break. It does take great determination and hard work to be successful  but believe me –the recognition, flexi-timings, networking help, perfect work - life balance, dedicating time for social work as well- are all possible only with “our CA” profession.

If I can do this (especially my daughter never missing my time), I think any woman CA should not be in doubt taking practice as impossible or dreaded path!

Please feel free to get in touch with me for any help you may need.

CA Usha Gayathri Kavi - Every Problem is an Opportunity

My name is Usha Gayathri Kavi. I am currently working as a Manager in Oracle EBS Support Projects for TransSys Solutions Private Limited in their India Development Centre based out in Chennai. Upon the request from our professional colleague Sripriya, I would like to share my short story with an intention that my story inspires some of you who have sacrificed your careers due to family commitments and have dedicated yourself for upbringing of your children where you feel that taking up roles in the industry would impact your personal life.

There is a wrong notion that an ERP job is an IT job. But for me it was not since by this time I had worked as an end user in SAP and also learnt some of the implementation aspects. I considered it more as a finance process and solution consulting job. I personally feel that the role of functional consultant best suites a CA since we already possess strong accounting knowledge and we are capable of quickly adapting to any accounting system across the globe to understand and suggest accounting solutions and processes in the interest of the customer's business. When I share my experiences in later part of this blog, I am sure many of you will be convinced with my outlook towards these kinds of roles.

I am basically from Hyderabad and had relocated to Chennai after marriage. I qualified in the year 2004 immediately upon which I had taken up a core finance role with a leading print media company for a year. In the course of my work in this company I had the opportunity to work as an end user in SAP FI/CO. This role had inspired me to understand and learn how an ERP is deployed in an organization. Out of this interest I started to learn SAP Implementation in one of the institutes in Hyderabad. By this time I had quit my first job and was unable to decide whether I should continue in the industry or start my initial steps towards practise. But I was aware that setting up a practise was not that easy where you have to build everything from the scratch.

One day I got a call from a leading software company in Hyderabad. They informed me that they got my number from a friend of mine. They are looking from young qualified CAs to work for functional consultant roles for an ERP Software. I thought I should give it a try as this is the kind of opportunity that I was visualising and this was something related to the interest. I went for the interview and was selected along with 30 plus other qualified CAs. Though I was selected I was not sure as to what ERP software they hired me for. I got my offer letter in hand and had a very less time to accept the role. With the advice of many of my friends and family members I accepted this role. When the training started only then I knew that this was for Oracle and not SAP. I had no regret even it was not SAP since I already started enjoying the Oracle Product in the course of structured training that was given to us.

I worked in this company for more than 3 years from 2006 to 2009 and acquired decent experience as a functional consultant. Finally the time had come where I had to settle down in my personal life. I got engaged in 2009. I had one or two offers in hand. But I chose to spend time with my parents since I would be getting married very soon and have to part from them. i got married and relocated to Chennai in early 2010. I had kept my family life as a priority and this is the time I again thought if I have to make arrangements to setup my practise. This dilemma continued until my daughter was born in 2011. Then I decided to be a full time mother and enjoyed the best time with my little one seeing her grow each day. Just after she crossed her 2 year milestone, I happened to get in touch with a manager in my previous job who had started his own company for Oracle proposed solutions that has its Development Centre in Chennai. I asked him casually if he can give me some role in his company that is flexible enough to manage my career and personal life. He was kind enough to offer me such a role.

Today, I am working in TransSys Solutions Private Limited as a support manager for some of their projects from Chennai. My workplace is flexible. Sometimes it is in the office and sometimes it is at the comfort of handling my kid along with the office work. The flexibility of work place and timings has boosted my confidence to pursue my career and reach greater heights. I was fortunate enough to have seniors in office who have given me suitable opportunities by identifying my potential and recognised me for my deliverables. One year in this company has shown me a path that I can take up to reach greater heights in my career. Today I am contended and there is just one feeling in my mind. I am proud to be a successful professional and a caring mother.

CA Shubhashree Sundaram - The End of a Caterpillar - the beginning of a Butterfly!

I am writing this write up at the behest of Sripriya whom I recently met and was immediately inspired by her unrelenting energy levels.  The first thought that came to me was if I were to write my career story will it be interesting – whether or not for others - will I enjoy reading it  and I leave it to you to decide.  And I hope there is a small bit of motivation especially for those of you women CA’s in alien lands and trying to start all over again !

I got a job almost immediately after I got the results of my CA final exams.  I joined ITC-Bhadrachalam Paperboards in Secunderabad. The learning curve in ITC was steep and having no other family responsibilities, it was easy to shoulder work responsibilities, travel and enjoy the work. 

My second stint was with Pricewaterhouse, my post marriage job which was enormous not just in terms of  learning but the work load too!  I moved to a lighter job for a few months only to eventually move to Bahrain where my better half moved on a new job. 

I did not work for a few months but eventually got a job in Ernst & Young. After so many moves and breaks, I was not sure if I was wanted any more.  A baby happened shortly thereafter

Fifteen months and a heavenly crèche facility later, I realized that even though I was enjoying my motherhood, there was something missing and it was time to get back to work life. I just could not stay away from numbers! But little did I realize that any breaks in the career will mean starting from scratch.  And a real scratch it was for I had to start all over from the beginning

But I recalled what I read many years back, what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls it a butterfly. I decided to be the bufferfly and the restart was painful and difficult. The money was no motivation as the spouse was well settled.  But as I look back today, I am glad that I took the decision to get back to work again.

It was at first difficult, with no real support in a different country but I stuck to the grind of getting back to work with able support from my husband and my little son. I believe that at whatever stage, learning should never stop.  To this end, I would take stock on a yearly basis where I stand, personally and professionally. Have I progressed or am just standing where I was before.  Even though, I preferred to spend more time with my son at every given opportunity, I thought I should also get back to studying. I did my IFRS Diploma and also a Post Graduate Certificate course in International Management with a reputed online UK university.

And today, I work with a private organisation and am very contented with work life balance (sometimes the imbalance is exciting too !). I enjoy going to work every day. The people and the environment are simply great and that supports my personal life too.

At the end of the day I think we have to run own race, make our own choices and constant question should be “Am I progressing?”. If the answer you hear is “yes” you are on the right path, if the answer is no, then life always allows the proverbial U-turns to start all over again.   I believe that life gives you many choices, it is up to us to take the ones which we wish to live with.

So far the story has been an enjoyable one for me, but am looking forward to writing a sequel which I am hoping will be even more enjoyable.  

CA T Petchi - From Madurai with Love

I am Petchi and am thankful to god for making me, a daughter of vegetable vendor in Madurai to be a CA today.  I had never been a topper in my academics.  As a mediocre performer, I would just bother about getting a pass in the subjects.  But it wasn’t a smooth sail anymore when my twelfth standard result was out.  No wonder that it was once again a commonplace score.  For the first time in my life, I felt the pinch of the seriousness of the academics.  At this juncture, the want of good marks coupled with the want of money, made me think seriously to do something that would make me ‘someone’ in the society.  It’s never too late, you know! God’s abiding grace tied to my parents wish and perseverance drove me to crack the hard nut, C.A.

All the dreams of becoming an Auditor started with a humble beginning of joining B.Com., in a self-finance college in Madurai.  From day one, I kept my goal alive free from doubts and fears.  All those three years I never left any stone unturned, be it academics or extracurricular activities. My determination and resolve paid me high with an identity of Rank Holder and much more accolades. The journey towards becoming a C.A. got initialized by doing Articleship in Madurai.  During the tenure of Articleship, I was not able clear the Intermediate Exams; however, the fruits of the labour were the knowledge I gained in the Articleship. 

Despite the regress, I curled up my grit and moved to Chennai in 2005 with a vision of completing C.A. at the earliest.  My D-day was not too far…and I completed C.A. in 2007.  I would be ungrateful if I fail to mention those well-wishers who tapped my latent potential to prominence and those beacon lights  are Mr.Seshadri (Professor), Mr.Sivakumar (Partner Karra & Co), Padmashri.T.N.Manoharan (Former president of ICAI) and Mr.Aramvalarthan (Professor).

 Having achieved the dream, in 2007, I started off my professional carrier with Deloitte, a first-ever challenging ambience I met.  At Deloitte, the prospect to learn and grow was immense as it was a ‘compact, smart tax team’ that I worked with. For the first three years, I explored Corporate Tax, International Tax, FEMA regulatory works, Transfer Pricing, Representation before tax authorities. In due course of the time, tax team expanded and separate team for each service line was established and I was into corporate tax team for the next two years.  Life at Deloitte was indeed an enriching and rewarding experience. But my thirst to explore the unsailed boundaries moved me to KPMG. My short stint there moulded me to establish own office in June 2014. Surely, the 7 years of learning experience at Big Four fine tuned me to become what I am today. Currently, am a partner in Aramvalarthan & Petchi, Chartered Accountant.

Having gained some knowledge and experience in my chosen core field, I now feel that my knowledge sharing with aspirants would help many realize their dreams come true.  In tune with this, I offer motivation, necessary guidance and help to the needy ones.  I consider it a great privilege and responsibility to give back what I was given.  I owe the bliss I enjoy as a Chartered Accountant professional to the endearing grace of the Almighty. Hope my expertise in Direct Taxation would help you if I am contacted on at petchi@icai.org

CA Sangeeta Sumesh - Motherhood and Marathon Running

Managing Career, Motherhood and Marathon Running

 

My name is Sangeetha Shankaran Sumesh. I am a Chartered Accountant by education.  I woke up at 5.00 am today  to head to the Anna University to train for the December Wipro Marathon to be held at Chennai next month and I was determined to recollect my life to do my blog as a Woman CA that Sripriya Kumar was constantly calling me for, not to forget the subtle face book hints on my delay. 

 

I had so much to say and 600 words seemed to short.  As I run now, I am reminded of the twists, turns and the complete excitement life has had to offer to me as full time professional, happy parent and now this marathon madness.   I had read the other blogs on inspiring women CA’s and here is mine. I hope it helps you.  Feel free to reach out to me.

 

I was what you would call an above average student a fun loving and chilled kid.  It was a bit of surprise to all that I eventually nurtured an ambition to become a Chartered Accountant. I apprenticed with Price Waterhouse and on qualifying I was very clear that I wanted to work for a few years, get married and then retire in my early thirties as a full time parent and perhaps study some more.  It is with an utter sense of thankfulness that I acknowledge that the Divine had made other plans for me!

 

I completed my CA and ICWA while the proverbial love blossomed with a fellow CA.  I worked with Alstom followed by Tupperware. Marriage with Sumesh took me to ‘Africa’s well-kept secret: Botswana’. The stint of 8 years in Botswana, again with PwC, not only exposed me to various industries and managing different portfolios but also groomed me professionally and paved way for a brighter future!

 My first option to quit came with my first child.  I was unwell and was advised a break.  But I decided that being at home was far too boring and that I would continue to work through the term and my son was born.  The nine months were terrible and the only thing that kept me going was my work that had something new to offer every day. While I was enjoying the new status of being a mother, the 3 months of maternity leave got me a bit bored mentally and I realised that I was bitten by the working bug again.

 I decided to go on with my career till I could manage and two and a half years years later, my daughter was born. This pregnancy too was similar to the first. I was rushed for my delivery straight from my office as she was born a week earlier than my due date. My colleagues teased saying, had I delayed further, my boss would have had to be my the doctor.

Raising 2 small kids, sleepless nights clubbed with handling multiple clients and teams, meeting deadlines at work was indeed a testing time, but the thought of being at home full time didn’t appeal to me especially as I am the kind of person who had to be engaged always! Being the only child, my parents’ wish for me to have a successful career also had an impact on me. And by this time, had almost given up the idea of pursuing studies again as many years had passed.

We relocated to Chennai in 2007 and I joined a French multinational Thales to head the Finance division. I loved my job that involved setting up internal controls, processes and procedures and streamline the companies’ finances. My job took me to Paris and London. In 2011, I moved to Dun & Bradstreet Technologies and Data Services ( where I presently work ) as the Vice President / CFO. Under the guidance of my boss, support from team and of course, the undeniable  Divine grace, the shareholders’ returns maximised and the net worth multiplied. The company declared dividend for the first time since inception.

In the midst of all this, I also managed a few accolades including “Leading Women Chief Financial Officer” at the women leaders in India awards and was also ranked as one of “India’s most influential women in Finance” by rediff.com, “Innovator in Finance” award by International Women Leaders Forum, “Jewel in the crown” by Punjab Association etc. I was also invited to speak in various forums, professional bodies and colleges.

On my personal front, I continue my practice of Art of Living (which I had learnt in Botswana) and pursued many courses in it. This helps me not only to de-stress but also energises me. In my younger days I had never played any sport! A thirst arose to satisfy this need & was inspired by my husbands’ passion for long distance running. Hence gradually started running and now I am a half marathoner (21 kilometres). I also had an urge to complete a triathlon and so completed 1.5 kilometres of swimming, 40 kilometres of cycling and 10 kilometres of running at a stretch, which was a gift for myself on my 40^th birthday!

I realise that  life is an endlessly exciting journey.  Parenting, working , running are all a part of it.  Thank you God !

CA Bargavi Natesan - Where there is a Will, there are many Ways !

I am Bargavi Natesan and write this story, in the interest of many young and dynamic women chartered accountants, trying to work around their personal and professional lives.  I have often seen that we are either guilty that we don’t work enough or we are guilty that we don’t spend enough time with our children and family.  My story was no different but I have managed to achieve a median path that is not any less hectic but far more rewarding than quitting it all and sitting at home

I did my schooling in Chennai and college at Puttaparthi. Later on, I did my articles in Sridhar and Santhanam, Chennai from the 97-00 batch. I decided to challenge myself and hence pursued two courses at a time and completed CA and CS. 

I joined Infosys at 2000, in Bangalore and later on relocated back to Chennai, post marriage. Infy was a tremendous learning ground.  My job , although a youngster involved liasoning with ministry of commerce and finance, participating in pre budget memorandum meetings along with NASSCOM, parliamentary committee meetings on SEZ etc.  The action was endless.

I was also a  part of the core committee involved in formulating rules in SEZ Act and rules and held positions as elected member of the export promotion council, a body attached to the ministry of commerce. All of this came at a cost and I had to travel  frequently spending 20 hours a day, attending regular meetings with ministry and other associations, post office hours.

Later, having spent a decade with Infy, I moved to Cognizant for close to 3 years and took up additional responsibilities of handling all India  and Asia Pacific compliance on all these foreign trade policy and RBI matters.  One day, I decided that I wanted to spend more time at home and took a few months off to decide on whether to quit once and for all and be a full time parent to a child who had patiently borne through all my aggressive professional pursuits

I always had the dream to do something different and I felt that my passion was to connect with people and network. I had shared my views and advised many small time entrepreneurs. It made tremendous sense to be on my own for two reasons- one spend more time with my daughter and secondly, my instinct to reach out to many and not just one company in an employer employee relationship.

I joined a mid sized practice run by women with similar backgrounds of good pedigree, high flying jobs and am very happy that my career is better than ever.  I am glad I did not quit.  I support Goshala and organic farming initiatives in my free time.

We had two brilliant Navrathri golus themed on Krishna (last year) and Lod Muruga (this year).  As I spent the "days" before the Navrathri at the Office of the Development Commissioner and the "night" working on the dolls, I realized that there are many choices in our life and it is we who have to make “that” choice, with well informed facts.  It is possible to do everything, to multi task and its great fun.  As women, its wired in our genes. 

In my case, I have made the choice to stay Connected Professionally ! And where there is a will, there is indeed not just one way but many ways. I found one and hope you fund yours too !

I recall swami Vivekananda's speech... " take up an idea, leave all the ideas alone.. Live on it.. Dream of it.. Let all the parts of the body, muscle, brain work for that idea and that's the way to success". 

Bargavi Natesan !

CA T V Rajalakshmi - GP Kapadia to Tiruchirapalli - My Story

Have started a new series of blogs for Women CA's - the objective is to inspire them to stay . First of the blogs by Rajee Rajesh a colleague at work

TV Rajalakshmi, a G P Kapadia Gold medalist had a brilliant academic record but had to relocate to Trichy owing to her marriage. Was this the end of her professional career. What does she do today?. Read on for more ..

My name is Raji and I am a Chartered Accountant in Practice from Trichy. My colleague and friend Sripriya wanted me to do a short story on my professional journey as a Chartered Accountant. I am given to understand that this is intended to inspire a few more women CA’s to make the proverbial professional comeback and I really do hope it serves the intended purpose.

I joined Price Waterhouse as an Articled Clerk in 1993 and the next 3 years were game changing for a girl from Chrompet, a suburb of Chennai , from a school and college that you still may not be able to locate on google maps. I had the good fortune of being the All India First Ranker in the CA Intermediate exams and also a 40+ rank in the final examinations

Just when I thought that I was all set to realize my CFO dreams, life dealt a completely different hand. An outstation audit, a chance meeting with a young engineer, a proposal for matrimony intelligently routed through proper channels led to wedlock and relocation to a Trichy. However I still managed to work for the next few years before I took a sabbatical to be a fulltime mother.
While the rest of the world went through the dotcom bubble, the introduction of the Euro, Enron Corporate Frauds, SOX, the War on Terror, I was fully immersed in baby babble, preparing alphabet flash cards and evaluating preschools.

Eventually, when I slowly started tiring of my maternal affectations, the scene of my professional comeback looked very bleak. My children were very young, I did not have any family support at home, the incremental money was no motivation, there was no way to explain a 5 year reprieve to an interviewer and a full time job was out of the question. I started teaching for CA students and this gave me a chance to reenergise my grey matter.

An accidental meeting between a long lost friend and my mother in law in a supermarket, presented a small window of opportunity and I partnered with her in a professional practice with an office premises the rent of which was twice as much as the revenue and with two trainees who were equally clueless but more confident than me of what we had set out to do.

From then on it has been one memorable journey. I realize that practice in a smaller town has its challenges but gives you a splendid opportunity to do many things. I work, teach for CA students, advise small corporates, am part of a happy Womens club called Aura, manage good holidays, supervise the kids, am active on facebook, blog, read and much more.

 I have even found the time for a bit of Bollywood dancing occasionally.  Am happy to let you know that I am also an Independent Director on a listed company based out of Trichy and attempt to do justice to this new role as well

I have in several instances in the past felt constrained by my geographical location and endless peers ranting on how my fantastic academic run would have seen me through as a CEO. These thoughts do not faze me any more. I realize that life is not always about having the best but making the best of what you get. The joy I get out of staying connected professionally is an endless high.