this article examines the role of the chartered accountant and what it takes to succeed in a challenging and highly competitive corporate world. This article appeared in the July 2012 issue of the The Chartered Accountant Student Journal published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
It is quite interesting to see how the role of finance professional has morphed over the past few decades. The traditional accountant is now more at home as a solid business confidant. Business managers have started to appreciate the contribution that a finance manager would bring in to an operating role and therefore the importance of being a chartered accountant is now actually measureable”.
What has led to this transformation and the broadening of the role? There is no one factor, but a number of internal and external dynamics that has worked overtime to evolve the role and the broadening of the scope.
The starting point however is the course itself - the Chartered Accountancy course prepares young professionals like you in a thorough manner. There are some cynics who could possibly say that the Chartered Accountancy course is a finishing school. Be that as it may, it still gives a holistic understanding of a number of varied subjects, which possibly very few singular courses would offer.
Over the last few decades businesses have started to appreciate the financial acumen and business familiarity of a finance manager. A finance professional acts as the glue between all the operating functions and tries to bind the strategic and business objectives together for the achievement of the organisation’s mission. This is a vital role that every finance professional should understand, grasp and execute. As a key member of the management team, the finance professional is required to provide the business with specific outputs around the health and shape of the business, important productivity metrics and useful what if scenarios. The finance professional should also have a good understanding of the regulatory framework.
But, to build scale and stature in the organisation, it is critical for the finance professional to possess a few very vital character traits and I have tried elaborating in the following lines below:
The vital character traits
Be curious
There will be innumerable moments in our life, when we would have to move out of our comfort zone and actually do the task. In our world as finance professionals there are no boundaries as far as knowing and delivering in the work place is concerned. We need to keep looking at new things all the time – in our own functions and also across functions. You never know, when and how the next new idea would germinate.
Challenge the assumptions
I have always believed that in our profession it is extremely important to keep questioning. Today’s environment is challenging and full of uncertainties. At every stage in our professional lives while we deal with our functional colleagues, vendors, consultants and the bureaucrats it is imperative that we do not assume what is being said and we should not go with the tide. We have to look beyond the assumptions and get convinced that this is the fair way of conducting business. Let me illustrate this point further. All of us know about the two cola companies in India– a few years ago both these companies were in the thick of controversy and the issue remained in public domain for quite some time. All this while, both these organisations had famously positioned volume growth and market share gain as their only objective and therefore had limited regard to achieving the financial goals – mildly put churning profits in the Indian markets was a long term objective. This controversy made them think differently – the dwindling volumes made them restructure their financials. They started reviewing their productivity parameters and balance sheet items with a very open mindset. In some way, the controversy was a blessing in disguise and made them look at their businesses differently and suddenly in spite of all the external challenges the companies were returning monies to the shareholders.
Be a solution provider
We will have enough challenging moments in our lives and it is critical that we are able to maintain our balance and are able to address the problem than living with it. I know of a very senior professional who always encouraged his subordinates to come up with alternative solutions even if it meant that they were idiotic. It is important that we let our minds wander and work overtime. As someone said “the most common cause of executive failure is inability or unwillingness to change with the demands of a new position. The executive who keeps on doing what he had been doing successfully is bound to fail.”
Constructive criticism
There will be moments in our professional lives when we make mistakes and we are constantly on a denial mode. It is important that at such times we course correct based on inputs that we receive from our peers, partners and supervisors. Accepting constructive criticism goes a long way in building our character.
The multifaceted roles
There a number of varied roles that a finance professional can exercise and play. Very few operating functions can offer a similar kind of depth and coverage. I have been in this industry for more than 2 decades and I must admit that it is fascinating to see just how many different kinds of roles that are available for a finance professional – within the same organisation or in a different industry. I have always believed that the foundation for any finance professional should be strong and well rooted – and if this were so, he would be in a position to take up any challenging assignments.
I believe that a young Chartered Accountant should start his professional innings in a line finance function – which could either be a sales accounting role or factory accounting, or an analyst or front office manager in a bank. Each of these roles are customer facing and would expose the professional to the real world around him. As the professional grows in the organization the exposure to different roles and positions become imminent. The four character traits that I have mentioned above, if used well and with a positive mind would accelerate the growth of the professional. And as the professional moves up and lateral in the organization, his maturity and his ability to deal with people around would help him develop and build on his interpersonal skills which are very critical for a professional as he moves to leadership positions.
A finance professional is very uniquely positioned in an organisation – the company believes that the finance professional is the default organiser and is expected to play the role of a coordinator, a summation expert, an advisor and the conflict resolver. And this expectation is thrust upon him irrespective of whether he is in a senior management position or in a middle management position working in a regional set up. This sense of trust that a finance manager enjoys in an organization is unique and his ability to judge and influence decision making holds him in good stead in his career and growth. Not surprising therefore that a number of mid-sized corporates in India told have a Chartered Accountant at the helm of affairs and they are very running the organisation well. The true test of a finance professional lies in his ability to maintain balance, patience, pragmatism, practicality, a good sense of the world around him and above all solid inter personal skills.
How does a finance professional grow in an organization? In a matured multinational corporation the finance professional starts in a line function and then in due course he moves on to a specialized role. The organisation would pause here and figure out the strength and the areas of improvement before positioning the professional in another line role or in a specialized role before he graduates into a leadership position. I believe that a similar career path is followed across all industries – whether in service or manufacturing. Large organisations are moving finance professionals to lateral roles in other functions and providing them with a general management experience. This is a reflection of the potential of finance professional. More and more finance professional are moving into general management roles and taking in positions of authority and leadership.
Conclusion
Finally, there will be innumerable challenges in our professional lives and it is critical that we take a balanced view and work towards pragmatic solutions to those challenges. As Martin Luther King Jr said and I quote “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”.
Shashidhar Jayaraman works in a private equity firm in an investing role and can be reached at jshashidhar01@gmail.com. The views expressed in this article are his personal notes and do not reflect the views of the organisation that he works for or has worked in the past.
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