With the belief that one needs to constantly evolve in order to change the world, Shantanu has never limited himself to fixed views and ideologies and has always tried to be flexible to changes. With his interests spanning from Audit and Taxation to business analytics and also trying his hand on open-source satellite imagery, he has always been open to new ideas that can change the norms of the business. All of this has led him to become the Winner of InsideIIM’s Most Employable CA Challenge. Know more about Shantanu here.
The following is Shantanu Gandhi’s set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst CA graduates to determine the Winners of Most Employable CA Challenge. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated by Mrs. Miti Vaidya, VP of Marketing at Kapiva and a CA herself, Shantanu’s story and profile stood out. Here's his own story in his own words.
“I am a fun-loving and outgoing person at the outset. I love reading books, especially mythology fiction related. I also watch anime in my past time and like being with nature; I have been to countless nature parks though the lockdown played spoilsport this year. I am open to new ideas and culture and believe diversity and openness foster innovation.
On the work front - I am goal and purpose-driven and have a deep interest in strategic thinking and value proposition to a stated outcome."
What do you think is the purpose of your career? How is it going to make an impact in the world?
“The best way to change the world is to change yourself first. I believe that changing yourself essentially requires finding a purpose. Only when one has a purpose in life can one be motivated and stimulated enough to work harder for their goals. This is where career kicks in. We ideally spend most of our time in offices working on our typical 9 to 5 job every day and then returning home tired and, of course, enjoy the weekends. Alternatively, some people spend nights in their offices without realizing their contribution to their work. I believe that finding the purpose of oneself both career and person-wise is more productive in the longer run. When I decided to opt for an MBA, many questioned my decision, but I knew that my purpose was not to revolve around audit and taxation. It was/is much more. I believe one needs to change with time; I have been trying to learn the basics of business analytics and have also surfed a little with open-source satellite imagery, which I believe will be the future norm of Finance and Consulting.
It is often said that it is the power of an idea and its implementation to generate growth and development in the longer run. I believe one needs to be flexible and receptive to changes in surroundings to prosper. Financing and valuing companies that can change the world of innovation or being involved with consulting companies on their business processes can change the world.
I would like to give an insight on a start-up I worked with, which essentially focused on developing a holistic health scorecard of employees in the manufacturing sector. In its initial stages, the start-up had the vision of creating a prediction-based model that would red-flag health issues that would affect the employees and workers at a later stage based on the given data set. My role required me to assess the feasibility and conduct market research for the idea, followed by a possible hypothesis to approach their concept.
Working with such start-ups or companies either in a consulting role or involved with financing or valuing such companies can make a change in the world."
Tell us a difficult situation which you faced in your previous company / articleship and how did you handle it?
“One of my most challenging situations was when I had to deal with a client during my first year of articleship. I was close to completion of my first year, and I was allotted a manufacturing client. It initially started on a good note, but we realized that things were not correct as we progressed further. The client had weak financial processes and controls and tried to window dress its books. There were also suspicions of manipulation in books though we couldn't find supportive or corroborative evidence.
The first signal came when we realized that the year was a lousy year for Oil and Gas Business, and our client's business was closely associated with that Industry. The revenues had dropped by 15%, and there was an indication of aggressive sales policy recognized by the client. We immediately went deeper and cross-checked INCO Terms for domestic and International Sales by way of online tracking of delivery of goods from the goods carrier's website – we essentially did this for the last two weeks of March, where manipulation would be maximum. Our search made us realize that the sales had decreased by 20% and not 15%.
There were soon coordination problems with the client as the client became non-cooperative; there were also few instances of strong verbal arguments. It was escalated to the partner and followed with internal deliberations with the topmost Management of the company, the board extended the audit by two months, and we eventually managed to complete the same within the extended period.
As a first-year intern and a college-goer, it was challenging to cope with the tense atmosphere's hectic work, which led to much uncertainty. I realized that the best way to handle situations would be to keep conversations professional and formal to the extent possible and, wherever possible, document my work and understanding. In case of heated exchanges or strong resistance by the client, it was best to address this by leaving the matter to my manager/partner. I also learned the importance of keeping a record of work done – perhaps to a much greater degree from this engagement.
Post our completion of the assignment, a few months later, the finance manager was asked to leave with immediate effect. Top Management conveyed this to us upfront as the manager had tried to get internal data from me and a newly qualified associate during the period. This was my first assignment where I truly learned the importance of having an attitude of questioning mind and never getting away with sweet talk."
Tell us about a time when you had to manage a team and demonstrate leadership skills.
“I was working for a start-up during my winter internship. The start-up focussed on developing a holistic scorecard of employees in the manufacturing sector. Since it was a start-up, the work essentially was unstructured; there was little clarity on how to move forward as the start-up had a vision of focusing on predictive analytics. There was also little clarity on how we could move forward. My experience in articleship has taught me that the best way to approach such an unstructured problem would be to break it up into smaller parts and come to work step by step.
We broke up the problem statement 3-fold – one was a greater understanding of the problem statement through research and seeking clarity from our mentors and founders of the start-up. The next step would be to cross-validate our knowledge with the corporate and also gain insights from them. The final step would be to come up with our insights and try developing a hypothesis that would help the analytics team to create a model.
Our team realized we must research the possibilities of the idea holistically, considering both physical and mental health-related issues, and come up with a set of questions that we must seek clarity on under each sector. We contacted corporates to gain their insights and eventually find insights that would add new dimensions to our client's work.
During this time, I organized the team and the team's flow to ensure we could deliver within a reasonable period. I focussed on allocating the work among our teammates and keeping the team together during our frequent ups and downs. Before completing our engagement with our start-up client, I also ensured a smooth handover was made to the next team to keep client relations and value-add our service to the extent possible.
This was a new experience for me as we have to find a unique solution to the problem statement and change our approach to the problem. There can be many different ways to solve a problem, but our attitude and approach define our potential altitude. Leading a team to uncharted territory was what was challenging and, at the same time, enriching for me."
Tell us about your experience of presenting technical financial data to people with non-financial backgrounds.
“Being a Chartered Accountant surrounded by Engineers and Arts Graduates in my MBA, I learned a few lessons that I realized were very important when teaching technical, financial data to people with non-financial backgrounds.
Ensure your thoughts and speech is clear: -
There were instances with me where despite having the domain knowledge, I found it difficult to explain concepts to my batchmates, whereas people who could easily communicate it prevalied better than me. I think the reasons were clear:
- Structured Thoughts: - Water and mind that are stationery have better clarity – a one-liner would be enough to convey my message on this point.
- Avoid Jargons: - using sophisticated words may sound good but does not bring any desired results to the audience. Simple illustrations would serve much better.
Patience:
Many from non-technical backgrounds need time to understand. I have seen people take time to understand, but they also apply their logic to the concept once they fully understand. This essentially happened with me during an analysis of financial statements where I primarily focused on facts, figures, and valuation. However, my colleague also looked at the rationale behind the acquisition and even strategic thinking.
Be honest when you don't know:
Initially, I found it odd when I said I didn't know or didn't remember how the particular concept or sum worked. Many of my colleagues were surprised, but my Articleship experience taught me that we must always try our best but be honest where the work was just not possible despite all our efforts. This method helped me bond closer with many of my friends and colleagues as they knew I would not waste their time and would add value to their learnings whenever I explained the concepts. It is my personal belief that this might also work with clients as long as you communicate the right way."
What are some of your most significant accomplishments or achievements?
"Society often teaches us the importance of success but seldom teaches us about failure. I have failed not once or twice but much more, and while many may not consider it an achievement – I do! Also, no, I am talking about my CA Results. I am sure all those participating in the competition would have faced the same. It was always my tenacity that helped me stand back.
I have never limited myself to fixed views or ideologies nor stayed in my cozy cocoon as one would call it. As I have answered earlier, I often surf and find interesting stuff, such as building sustainable carbon credit financing companies or using open-source satellite imagery. I am also learning business analytics which I believe would be the future in years to come. I have chosen to opt for an MBA in India's southern part, whose culture is quite different from the rest of India, and have realized the importance of diversity in corporate culture; it is always up to us to bring the best or worst of it.
When it comes to the work front, I have handled important audit areas such as sales, payroll, debtors, borrowings in entities. I have also helped in preparing pitch presentations for prospective assignments. Even though I was part of the audit – manufacturing division, I worked in different industries such as furniture, real estate, wind energy, fertilizer division and have had the opportunity to work across various sectors such as Financial Companies. During my stint as an auditor in a finance company, based on the process understanding. I detected a possible weakness in the pay-out system and conducted substantive testing to cross-validate if any excess pay-outs had been made, which had been accidentally made to an ex-employee who has just left. The matter was escalated to my partner and the board, eventually leading to a qualification in the pay-out processes.
I have also guided and directed junior articles under me for mid and small–range clients in addition to the above."
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