An accountant’s first-hand experience inside a COVID-19 war-room

• Hi! I am Rishi Doshi, a chartered accountant, and a chartered financial analyst. I work with KPMG and specialize in financial fraud investigations.
• Day by day, the COVID-19 pandemic conquered more and more countries with such momentum that it left me in a state of anxiety as to what was happening to the world.
• At that moment, it dawned on me “how” grateful I should be for being equipped with all the facilities in the comfort of my home!
• I imagined that if I had been a medical professional, I could have helped in some way; however, being a finance professional meant that I had little to no opportunity to help on the frontlines…but I was completely wrong!
• On April 24, I joined the COVID-19 War-Room team at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (RS Ward) to help with data management and reporting!

Here is my story.

Desire to Help: Think of what you can do rather than what you cannot do.

With the increasing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is conquering more and more countries with such momentum, I was anxious as to what was happening to the world.

It was agonizing to learn that every day the death rates were increasing and people were losing their jobs, lives, and mental peace!

When you consider the plight of stranded migrants and people living in slums, it’s a blessing to have the ability and resources to have necessities delivered to your door. It made me feel grateful for whatever I had!

This sparked a genuine desire on my part to contribute in some way to the resolution of this crisis…but the big question was “How?”

I imagined that if I had been a medical professional, I could have helped in some way; however, being a CA and CFA meant that I had little to no opportunity to help on the frontlines.

And hence, like the majority of us, volunteering was another wishful thought!

Opportunity to contribute: Manage Patient Data!

Serendipity struck while I was browsing across social networking websites, and I noticed a tweet from Mr. Uddhav

Thackeray (#CovidYoddha). He was inviting volunteers to assist the Maharashtra government in their efforts to manage public health!

I clicked on the application form, and as expected, I saw the requirements were primarily for medical professionals, tech experts, and public health administration professionals!

Fortunately, there was a category for “Other” volunteers.

I spent a few minutes introspecting—how can I help as a chartered accountant?

And then I realized that my extensive experience (7 years of consulting with a Big Four) in project management, data management, working at top speed under high-pressure situations, and qualitative reporting can be helpful to them in these pressing times. I added it to my application and hit send!

I was not very hopeful of getting a callback after all; who thinks a CA would be needed on the frontline? But I was wrong!

After a few days, the COVID management team reached out to me, saying that “the local ward government administrative office needs my help for data management and reporting!”

For some time, I was unable to decide whether this was a genuine call or just another scam call—an occupational hazard of being a fraud investigator!

After analyzing and conducting some checks, I realized it was a genuine call, and I immediately joined the War Room team at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (RS Ward).

I was very overwhelmed to have received this opportunity, and my excitement level had reached the zenith!

My journey in the COVID-19 war room

“I cannot do all the good that the world needs.” “But the world needs all the good that I can do.”

I began working with them on April 24, 2020, and have done so every day since.

The war-room team was comprised of our frontline commandos, which were doctors, nurses, senior public health administration staff, travel and logistics support members, and other members of the BMC staff.

The War-Room team is responsible for appropriate management of COVID-19 positive cases, contact tracing, containment, and quarantine, running large-scale screening tests in suspected areas, quarantine center capacity and facility management, and test kit requisitions, among others.

Day One: I was introduced to the work I would be doing. I was asked to confirm if I would be available for a few days to ensure continuity of resources and plan the next course of action!

My responsibility was to bring order to the disorder! I had to put together unstructured data that we received from various places in a format that we could use and report the numbers to the BMC HQ on a daily basis.

I immediately said “yes,” and without further ado, I applied for personal leave from my employer to give my full support to this initiative. After all, this was my opportunity to give back to the community in some form!

In a couple of days, I was hooked and working on massive data sets of patients, contact tracing, capacity utilization of quarantine centers, and others.

I was fully aware of the stakes; any gaps in my work could result in a patient not being tested or detected at the appropriate time, or in inadequate capacity utilization at quarantine centers!

It was a stressful but fulfilling and enriching experience.

The personnel in charge of our war room were recognized by the Chief Minister’s office as a silver lining in the gloom…for the quality and speed of information put through by the ward!

People from other wards started reaching out to me to learn about and seek information on the best practices followed by us for data management. Now, the responsibility of timely and accurate information reporting was on my shoulders, and it was a job well done!

The experience of working for a long time with the “Big 4” aided me greatly here—from the technical skills of MS Excel and SharePoint and understanding the nuances of converting unstructured data to structured data to the macro-level understanding of the usefulness of data gathered for planning, foreseeing challenges, and delivering quality output in desired timelines!

It was here that I realized that even as finance professionals, we can do so much!

Lessons Learned in the COVID-19 War Room

This was my first experience working in government.

I witnessed firsthand how they work and the challenges they face, such as a lack of updated technology and a restriction on the use of air conditioners to save money, among other things!

• I learned the nuances of public administration.
• I learned how desperately employees in government need assistance, both technologically and in terms of infrastructure.
• Crisis makes us adapt, learn, and grow. Some of the staff were civil or electrical engineers but were working in public health support.
• Amidst this chaos, I conversed with a lot of members of the war room and realised how empathetic they were to the people’s problems.
• The biggest lesson is how they are able to surpass all the challenges with their “desire and attitude” to help the nation.

Wrapping Up…

Staff members’ families were concerned about them going to work every day. But these “warriors” (in their true form) did not budge and were at it relentlessly and tirelessly.

To add to their challenges, the government ordered a freeze on Dearness Allowance (DA) for its staff. DA is an allowance paid to government staff to mitigate the impact of inflation.

With all these on their minds, I will never forget a statement by a war-room member: “Hum nahi karenge toh kaun karega” (translated: “If we don’t do it, then who will?”)

I believe that we, as CAs or in any other profession, have an obligation to understand our responsibilities as citizens and to give back to society in any way we can…Funds are getting donated across the world, but to use these funds, people and skills are needed!

Rishi Doshi is a chartered accountant and a chartered financial analyst. He currently works with KPMG and specializes in financial fraud investigations.