- Hi, I am Pallavi Dinodia, a Chartered Accountant and Partner at S.R. Dinodia, a 72-year-old legacy firm in India.
- Despite S.R. Dinodia being my grandfather’s firm, opportunities were not presented to me on a silver platter.
- As CA firms gain prominence in India, I delve into growth areas within auditing, taxation, and other developments.
Q: Can you walk us through how you started your career and why join a CA Practice?
Times have changed today, but back then, most Indian families wanted one thing for their daughters: to settle down. My family was no different; they too wanted me to get married.
I was not on board with the idea at that time.
In my mind, I wanted to prove my grandfather wrong who told me that CA is for boys.
So, I thought pursuing CA would take some time, and maybe if I didn’t pass, it would buy me a few years.
As luck would have it, I qualified in the first attempt!
So, it’s crucial to deliver consistently.
Q: Your firm has a rich history. What is S.R Dinodia & Co’s story?
My grandfather was a part of the Income Tax Department.
He had four children, which was quite burdensome, monetarily. So, one day my grandmother informed him that it was difficult to sustain themselves.
“You have four children, so you have to think about doing something else,” she said. My grandfather gave it some thought and quit his job to start his own CA firm.
He was essentially a guy who knew tax. The 1922 Act was still in effect at that time. He had seen it inside out.
It was evolving in India at that time. And that’s how it all began.
Over time, our firm grew and my father eventually joined him to help grow the practice. My uncle joined afterwards.
I was next in line and had the privilege to join the firm.
Collectively, we grew it from domestic tax to audits, from audits to international tax, and litigations.
We joined forces to scale the firm by contributing our skills.
Q: What is your firm’s growth model?
Our firm is NOT in every vertical, such as valuations or M&A.
The other day, someone mentioned to me that we are still vanilla when it comes to the types of services we provide. But that’s okay.
Our mission is to excel at areas we are good at that is audit and tax practice.
However, we are focussing a lot on:
Technology
After reaching a certain size and scale, you can’t say, “I’m going to do things manually.” You can’t do that.
Let’s say you’re auditing a large company. You can’t start looking at every voucher and perform certain tasks like how we used to do earlier.
So, you have to invest in technology.
You can’t be doing manual payrolls or audits. You have to invest in software.
In Audit, we have invested in technology, which has helped us reduce audit time, risk, and dependency on people. Jobs are not affected because ultimately people want to do value addition.
For example, AI is being utilized heavily in tax research. In our tax practice, we are trying to use AI to help us research for our litigation practice.
Decentralisation
Previously, even for minor matters, someone from management had to approve decision-making. Nowadays, you can input it into the software, which will automatically generate and escalate it for approval.
Therefore, we aim to move away from relying solely on the family and involve more individuals to foster growth.
Q: How do you recruit and retain your team?
The young generation is different… Today when we interview people, we don’t expect them to be with us for 20 years!
For them, questions like the following matter the most, “What will you do for me? What will I learn? How will I grow in 12 months?”
You have to deliver value – Be it to your employees, clients, country, and even society at large. That’s how we’ve remained relevant; by adapting and embracing the new-age culture.
When it comes to hiring, we prioritize character over talent. Skills can be taught, but who you are fundamentally cannot be changed.
We invest in people, building connections beyond just professional relationships.
Q: What opportunities do you see for CA practices looking to expand their services?
- In auditing, the evolving NBFC infrastructure in India presents ample opportunities. The regulatory landscape has become more nuanced, making it an area ripe for specialized audits.
- On the taxation front, the requirement for international tax experts is expanding due to increasing global business activities. With more Indians and businesses operating overseas, understanding international tax laws and their impact is crucial.
- Additionally, GST litigation and compliance offer avenues for growth, especially with the digitization of processes.
- Forensics, Valuations
Also read: TR Chadha’s CEO predicts exponential growth for big, midsized & small CA firms
Q: There’s a trend among several CA firms wanting to move away from audit. What’s your perspective on this?
I believe in facing challenges head-on rather than shying away from them. While NFRA regulations may seem stringent, they are ultimately aimed at improving standards.
Investing in processes, technology, and training can help mitigate risks.
NFRA’s oversight, like a peer review, serves to enhance our systems and ultimately benefits both CAs and the companies we serve.
Regulation is part of our journey, especially for firms aiming for IPOs or listing. It’s about embracing it rather than avoiding it.
Q: What factors contribute to the limited representation of working mothers in CA Practice?
Chartered Accountancy is a demanding profession that often leaves little room for personal challenges.
You have to stay updated all the time and attend client meetings, and calls. It is a lot of work.
For example: “My child was very sick yesterday. Consequently, I couldn’t study the case law as thoroughly as needed, and today we’re presenting arguments. Moreover, the Delhi High Court did not rule in our favour. The client won’t consider the reason behind the unpreparedness (and rightfully so), only the outcome matters to them. Hence, it’s indeed a challenging role.”
There are days that my family suffers because I need to be at work. There are days that work suffers because I need to be at home. There are days that I suffer because I need to be everywhere.
I still have to convince myself that when I am in the office, my gender plays no role. It is a constant reminder.
As women, we need to advocate for change and inspire others to continue working.
Also read: This CA Firm Guru & Jana struggled for the first 10 years, now top firm in India with a team of 650+
Q: Did you struggle to find relevance after maternity leave?
Yes, I did.
Before going on my second maternity leave (2021), I was a person who was involved with everything in the firm.
When I returned after 6 months, everybody at work had learned how to manage tasks without me.
For the first 3 months I struggled with the thought, ‘Am I still relevant?’
My family, friends and team rallied for me and encouraged me to look at the glass half full.
I started doing more seminars, and webinars and being out there more on LinkedIn because I had the time.
I also got an opportunity to be a part of the Chamber of Commerce…It all paid off.
Wrapping up…
I wasn’t used to being this confident, and the only way to do that was to work consistently.
So, my secret to having unwavering confidence is putting in that extra effort, reading more, discussing more, and always being a learner.
Even junior employees in my team are encouraged to come to my room and say, “I don’t agree with your views.”
To have that openness to say, ‘I may not always be right,’ and constantly learning and being open to new perspectives has been the cornerstone of my career.
Now it’s your turn…
What question would you have for Pallavi? Comment below and ask her.
