Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) – When Should You Pick Up This Course

Lot of students asks me the options available to them while they are doing CA or after completing CA.  And one of the most asked question is ‘should they go for a CFA degree’.  The reason of writing this article is not to tell you how to do CFA and what’s involved in it, but more about ‘Why CFA’.  You can very easily Google the subjects and the course curriculum, something where I may not be able to add any value.  However, what I want to elaborate through this article are the larger aspects of why should you pick this course and what are the skills one should have to complete it. 

After interacting with students and young chartered accountants, I felt a majority are perhaps clueless of why should they pursue this course.  The reason of starting my blog www.nimishgoel.com was precisely this reason.  It is unfortunate students have limited means to take guidance and mentorship from someone who is capable enough to guide in the right direction.  Senior most family members, who may not have any idea about the field you want to pursue, generally provide guidance.  Because they are our elders in the family and probably more educated (irrespective of the field), they end up becoming the mentors to all the youngsters in the family. You can read one of my previous articles on this topic http://nimishgoel.com/deal-unwanted-career-advice-family-friends/

Ok, coming back to the topic – Why CFA?  It is important to understand the objective of this course and how it is structured.  If we look at CFA’s website and read the preamble of the course, it says as follows:

“The CFA Program curriculum covers concepts and skills you will use at all stages of your career, connecting academic theory with current practice and ethical and professional standards to provide a strong foundation of advanced investment analysis and real-world portfolio management skills”

If we carefully look at the underlined words, we should be able to identify the philosophy behind launching the CFA course.  It is quite evident by undergoing this course you would acquire skills that are required for investment analysis and portfolio management. 

Before I discuss a little more on the finer aspects of CFA, it would be worthwhile to see what are the jobs typically done by CFA’s.  A research by eFinancialCareers found more than 25% of CFAs work in Asset Management industry followed by 25% in Equities and Fixed Income & Research, 20% in Hedge Funds, 15% in M&As, 10-15% in Capital Markets, 10% in Private Banking and Risk Management, 10% in Trading and Commodities and roughly 7-10% in accounting and finance.    

By looking at the industries employing CFAs, it is evident the jobs are more in the field related to corporate finance, treasury, hedging, risk management and capital markets.  And this seems to be in line with the Preamble of the CFA Institute making professionals in the field of investment analysis and portfolio management.

Lets try and understand in simple layman language, what does the above terms mean and how CFA degree holders add value to these fields:

Investment Analysis

Investment analysis is basically the study of how an investment is likely to perform and how suitable it is for a given investor.  If someone wants to invest in equities or mutual funds, the investment manager is the person who identifies which sector is promising to invest, which equity has performed well in the past and basis the decisions taken in the past and historical performance, takes the decision to make an investment.

To simply put, it is like if you want to put your money in buying a house you invest time to study the area, study the background of the builder, study the market prices and also study the earning potential in case you wish to sell it in the future.  This is exactly what an investment manager does whilst deciding where to put your money whilst buying securities or mutual funds.

Portfolio Management 

Portfolio management is helping create and recommend portfolios of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds or alternative investments to meet the investment objectives of a specific investor.  Professionals who perform portfolio management are focused on meeting the needs of investors through the rate of return achieved within a portfolio and they are often responsible for rebalancing the account to remain in line with the investor's allocation preferences.

The terms ‘investment analysis’ and ‘portfolio management’ are kind of synonymous, both of them leading the objective of ensuring investor’s objectives aligned with the type of investments they invest in.

The other areas where CFAs generally work include the following:

1.             Working as a Buy-side analyst.  The Buy-side of a stock exchange comprises the mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies that buys a large proportion of securities (shares, bonds etc) for money-management purposes.

A buy side analyst is a person who works internally for company’s investment analysts and provides information and does research for the company’s internal consumption.  The buy-side analyst’s work is not shared with in the public domain.

2.             Working as a Sell-side analyst.  A Sell-side analyst is a person whose work is shared in the public domain and he/she generally works in a brokerage firm and provides recommendations for purchase, sale, prices and opinions to the public market.

3.             Working as a Financial Planner.  The other areas where CFAs are found quite useful is the field of financial planning.  Financial planners help companies and individuals plan their finances keeping the short term and log term goals in mind including retirement benefits, children’s education and marriage etc.  They are the people who have skills to foresee which investment is fruitful keeping the objectives in mind.   

4.             Working as Economists.  CFAs are also quite good in the field of economics and that’s because as part of the curriculum they are taught the concepts of statistics, probability theory, time value of money, micro and macroeconomics, international economics etc.   

How Does CFA differ From CA?

I think by now you yourself would have identified what a CFA does and the kind of industries they work in.  If we look at a macro level, CFA degree helps you get expertise in areas of investment analysis, portfolio management, economic theory, financial reporting, corporate finance that includes capital investment decisions, capital structure policy, dividend policy and the economic aspects of mergers and acquisitions.  A CFA is generally expected to have sound knowledge of ‘Finance’ in the broader sense.  Leveraging statistical tools and economics based tools, the CFAs provide their services. 

A Chartered Accountant, on the other hand is expected to have sound knowledge of accounting, audit, taxation (both direct as well as indirect) and law.  Though, in the CA course there are papers on financial management and a lot of CAs do practice in the field of corporate finance, in my personal opinion the quantum of financial management and economics oriented subjects in these courses vary, with CFA having much larger pie of these subjects than CA.  Similarly, even the perception of both the degrees to the outside world is different.

When Should You Do CFA?  Should you do CFA after CA?

In my opinion before deciding to choose a professional qualification, you should ask yourself the following questions:

1.             Do I have strong analytical skills;

2.             Am I good in research;

3.             Does my patience exceeds normal patience levels;

4.             Do I enjoy reading the pages in Economic Times/Financial Express/Business Line that cover reports and analysis on stock market, foreign currency and India and world economy;

5.             Do I like watching news on NDTV Profit, CNBC TV18 on issues related to economy, stock market, financial products, derivatives, equities and bonds and how are they valued etc; and

6.             Do I have the habit for an attention to details.

So, if your interest is more in capital markets, financial management, forex, derivatives, hedging and you have a knack to do research oriented work, CFA might be a good career option to you.  Students of economics wanting to make a career in corporate finance do well in CFA.  I personally think if you enjoy reading about stock exchange, derivatives, policies related to exchange money control and foreign exchange and the subject economics and world around it excites you, CFA probably would be a good bet for you to try as a career option.

But, having said that it doesn’t mean that people who don’t like reading economics or who have not been students of economics can’t do CFA, they surely can if they develop that interest.

However, if you (like me J) have more interest in reading balance sheets, picking up issues on taxation, understanding how accounting entries are passed for complex transactions, know how to interpret legal provisions and enjoy auditing the past transactions, then making a move towards CA might be a good option. 

Doing CFA after completing CA in my opinion is a good option provided you have interest in capital markets and related fields.  Your knowledge of financial management in CA exams will surely help but then don’t expect yourself doing the same kind of work that your CA friend might be doing, post qualification.

It is critical to understand in minutest of the details how each course/degree unfolds its career options and if you take a decision without being clear in the objectives, the results may be damaging and catastrophic. 

Don’t play with your career.  Do your research well and take informed decisions without anyone’s compulsions and pressure.  After all, it’s your life and only you have the right to make it right.

Good luck and stay blessed…

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Authored by Nimish Goel who by profession is a qualified chartered accountant but by passion, is an active blogger.  Nimish has worked with EY and PwC in India and has also worked with KPMG in Europe.  He now runs his own consulting company (International Business Advisors) and manages his blog www.nimishgoel.com.

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Saying Sorry Is Difficult. But If Done, Makes You Feel Awesome!!

This article is very special as it doesn’t relate to any career guidance or mentoring I generally do through my blog www.nimishgoel.com.  This article is inspired from a real life incident that happened with me couple of weeks back when I acted in a way I shouldn’t have and later how I made it good by a simple apology.

It was Friday morning around 11.30AM when I was in the middle of a meeting.  Since past few weeks the work pressure had taken a toll on each member of our team and everyone was gasping for some free time.  The work was increasing and unfortunately two of our team members had left the organization.  I was sitting with a colleague discussing a business plan for our new venture and the discussions were quite intense.

Right at the middle, my cell phone rings and I saw the name of a client who had called me the day before also but I wasn’t able to pick his call because of some prior commitments.  So, I picked up the call and expressed sorry for not being able to talk to him the day before.  Things were absolutely fine for next 2-3 minutes when we were discussing the work.  We were supposed to get back to the client with some information and I had told him because the team was very busy, we may not be able to manage time for the next few days, but thereafter work would surely get finished.  I had committed to the deadlines we had discussed.

Suddenly in the middle of the conversation he started raising his tone enquiring why we are taking time to respond.  I politely said – “Sir, few of our team members have left but I am sincerely on the job and we would be able to finish the job”.  I told him the deadline to finish the work is still 4 months away and we are confident enough to finish much before that.  However, some verbal scuffle started and I just lost my temper.  Raising my voice I told him to mind his words because what he was saying was inappropriate and there was no reason to shout.  I think my voice tone was quite high. 

However, during that call itself I immediately realized this was not good and I shouldn’t have spoken in such a high tone.  However, things gradually cooled down and we ended the call.  For the next 10 minutes my life was suddenly upside down because in my professional career of 14 years I had never spoken to a client like that and it was absolutely not professional, even if I thought it wasn’t my mistake.  I shouldn’t have spoken like that.

Feeling very bad about my behaviour, I went out of the office for a walk and introspected what went wrong.  I visualized the entire scene in my mind and I realized my response to an event was abrupt and emotional and therefore, the outcome was negative.  The day was absolutely fine, I was in a good mood discussing the business plan of our new venture, excitement about the new venture was palpable but suddenly this call comes, I exchange some heated words and things take normalcy again. 

I mean what happened, why did I suddenly lose my temper and why did I react that way to an incident that could have been handled with care.

This reminded me of a very relevant formula that I had read sometime back, which goes as follows:

E          +          R          =          O

E = Events

R = Response

O= Outcomes

The outcomes in our life are the result of our response to events that take place in our lives.  If our response is positive, constructive and filled with joy, the outcome shall surely be productive.  But, where the response goes negative, filled with anger, jealousy or superficiality, the outcome has to be something that happened with me… unfortunate.

Extremely critical it is therefore, to watch our words and actions and determine outcomes we wish to get rather than outcomes that make us feel low and guilty.  My response to the client’s behavior wasn’t professional and as a result the outcome was filled with guilt.  And there is no one other than me to take responsibility of what happened.  I cannot blame the client for being rude to me, because I couldn’t have stopped him from behaving that way.  If he had to behave that way, that’s his problem.  But what I could have surely done was watched my response to an untoward event and perhaps, got an outcome that wasn’t so unprofessional.

However, as our elders have told us, let bygones be bygones. Simply move on.  On that note, I came back to my seat and immediately wrote an email to him apologizing for what happened and the way I reacted to the situation.  I told him I would surely try to mend this act by taking him out for dinner.  I purposely did not call him because the incident would have taken him aback as well and I did not want to create any unpleasant situation again.   

In the evening I was sitting in the changing room of my gym remembering the morning incidence when I thought that I should call him and apologize personally.  Though email was sent, calling him would surely be the right way to mend the damage and I was sure he would also understand what happened and there was no reason to panic.  So, mustering some courage I called him and spoke for 5 minutes without any problem.  He said – “Nimish it wasn’t anyone’s fault.  Even I was under tremendous pressure from my seniors to take the update from you and since I was under pressure, my pitch went up and I did not want to talk like that”.  It was an absolutely perfect conversation as if nothing had happened. 

I felt extremely happy and light and went for a good work out in the gym.  The feeling was purely because I spoke to him, I faced his voice, I listened to my inner voice that I should talk and that helps, I did not succumb to the feeling of ignoring it and finally I could muster courage to mend what went wrong. 

Through this article I simply want to share my feelings that life will throw ups and downs and we may not always respond the way ideally we should, as a result facing outcomes upsetting us, making us feel low, sometime frightening us with the results.  But there is always a way to mend our outcomes, simply by practicing the following:

1.            Vacate your ego chamber

Ego is one of the most dangerous possessions one can have within him/her.  Let it go immediately, the more it remains inside you the more your outcomes shall be negative.  I left my ego, called up the client and felt extremely happy.

2.            Don’t take too much time.  Apologize quickly

The moment you feel something terribly wrong happened, don’t waste even a single minute to repair it.  The repairing work has to be done immediately otherwise the damage could be irreparable.  I know it’s difficult to come out of a negative situation and immediately approach to mend the wrong.  But believe me, it has to be done quickly. Just do it and see the results.

3.            Feeling may not be mutual.  It doesn’t matter

Even if you have chosen to speak to the other person with a feeling of apology you may encounter an absolute non-reciprocal feeling and that may make you feel stupid.  You went ahead to say sorry but the other person is still in his/her ego chamber and doesn’t want to take your apology.  Or perhaps he/she has been badly hurt and therefore, not ready to accept a nice behavior immediately after that scuffle that happened between you and him/her.

Don’t worry.  As it is not easy to say sorry, let me tell you it is also not easy to accept sorry because our brain is just not ready to accept the fact that people would apologize easily and so soon.  So, it is Ok even if you have not been responded with warmth on your journey to apologize.  But I can tell you with full confidence, sooner or later that works and it works wonders.  After all we are all human beings with same feelings and beliefs. 

4.         Just Move On

Making a mistake doesn’t mean you need to keep thinking about it forever.  As humans we are expected to make mistakes, but you need to then move on in life and forget the past.  Let your mind be filled up with joy, prosperity, growth, love and kindness, rather than sorrows.  You made a mistake, felt apologetic from your heart and then moved on.  That’s how it should be.

I hope this article helps you in some way, I don’t know how but I felt like writing this and sharing my experience with you.  It is my sincere endeavor to make everyone’s life beautiful, free of stress and simply superlative.

By the way, that client went with me for dinner and we had a good time together.  He is still with us and I recently signed one more engagement letter for a new work he has given to me.  As I said…It works.  Try it.

Keep smiling and stay blessed…


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From Hotel Room To Semi Finals Of The French Open

From Hotel Room To Semi Finals Of The French Open

I recently read a news article how Timea Bacsinszky reached the semi-finals of the French Open 2015.  The article can be read on:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/french-open-2015-former-hotel-worker-timea-bacsinszky-checks-into-semifinals-10295934.html

As per the news reports, Timea entered the semi-finals despite not being among the favorites and that too considering she used to work in a hotel as a worker.  The headlines itself was so catchy that I couldn’t keep my eyes off it and read the entire article.

Timea was a child prodigy in tennis and stopped playing tennis when she was frustrated with injuries.  For the next two years she was working in a hotel only to come back to the sport with vengeance. 

When asked whether her stint with the hotel helped her in tennis, she said:

“I don’t know if it really helps me for my forehand or backhand, but it gives you a lot of humility because there are many people in this world who are working in restaurants, hotels, in the kitchen, who are making our beds in hotels”.

“I’m not only talking about tennis players. There are many, many players who don’t realise maybe how lucky they are also to have enough money to go to a restaurant. I learned what it was like to be on the other side. My colleagues didn’t actually know that I played tennis.”

This statement shows the humbleness of a great athlete and how working in different situations one gets to learn so much.  It is probably her humility towards the life that helped her get back into action and reach to the semi-final of a prestigious tennis tournament. 

What I want to highlight through this incidence is the aspect of ‘humility’ and its link with ‘success’.  In the words of William Penn – “Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire”.

If we think very deeply, the truthiness of this statement cannot be undermined.  Humility and knowledge generally go hand in hand and those who have both are the masters of their subjects and experts in their fields.   One of my seniors once said to me “Nimish, a tree with fruits always bends, whereas a barren tree stands straight and tall”.  What he meant was a person filled with knowledge is always humble vis-à-vis a person without knowledge who always stand straight with pride and arrogance.

If we look at the top entrepreneurs like Mr. Narayan Murthy or Mr. Ratan Tata and also look at some of the top athletes like Sachin Tendulkar, the feeling of modesty and humility is engrained in them to the core.  They are the masters of their field and but at the same time, extremely humble as well.  So how do you reach a level when people will start to recognize you and at the same time you ensure that success doesn’t go in your head, rather you remain humble.

In my view the chain of transactions of life go as follows:

1.             You work hard and with perseverance start accumulating knowledge;

2.             Once the knowledge base is available, you start to use it for your benefit and growth;

3.             With the correct usage of knowledge, you start to grow and reach a level of success;

4.             With success comes money, power and fame and then either you remain humble or reach a level of arrogance. 

I think this is typically how everyone reach a particular level and then over a period of time and depending on the circumstances, he/she either enjoy the success or takes it into his/her head and get into the path of arrogance. 

If we take an example of a student who works extremely hard and with his hard work achieves super success in examinations.  He becomes a qualified CA or lawyer or an engineer and then starts to work towards achieving his goals.  He works harder, starts to become successful in career and gradually also starts to become successful in personal and social life.   He makes more friends, he probably makes rich and successful friends and his/her acceptability increases in the social circles.  From a simple boy/girl he/she becomes a successful and famous personality.  This is how any person succeeds.  Isn’t it?

But the reality is that not every successful person takes success in the right spirit.  One can be a Mahatma Gandhi and the other can be an Adolf Hitler, both were highly successful in their own fields, but completely opposite in their behavior and character.

In my personal opinion becoming successful and thereafter remaining humble is difficult because success generally drives everyone crazy.  However, if we take few steps in our daily life, there are chances that success might not disturb our character and we continue to remain the way we started…

1.            Enjoy small wins

Make it a habit to start enjoying small wins on a daily basis so that winning and enjoying become a habit to you.  Since our childhood we have learnt to enjoy only big wins of our life and never the smaller ones.  For example, our parents would have been extremely joyful only when we stood first in our class and obviously the levels of joy they expressed drove your levels of joy.  Rarely would have been the case when the levels of joy in coming first in the class would have equaled the level of joy of clearing that class itself.  Are you not supposed to have joy in your life on the fact that you achieved success in clearing a class, is only coming first a driver to have more joy. 

Start to enjoy even the small wins in your life.  Be happy when you finish your day’s to-do list, celebrate finishing a chapter of your study course, derive joy from holding someone’s hand and making him/her cross the road, celebrate your win by finish writing your daily journal (http://nimishgoel.com/write-journal-or-diary-daily-why-how/).

 

Try and find happiness in all the activities that you finish, because “finishing is winning”.   

2.            Express Gratitude

Expressing gratitude in life is the best way to receive happiness and consequently, humility.  One of the verses in the Bible mentions that “Whoever has gratitude will be given more and he or she will have it in abundance.  Whoever does not have gratitude, even what he or she has will be taken from him or her”.

Once you develop the habit of expressing gratitude your thoughts and life moves from a feeling of scarcity to a feeling of abundance.  Thank everyone around you to have been blessed with whatever you have.  Thank your parents for a wonderful living they gave you, thank your teachers for education they imparted, thank your guru for guiding you and showing the path of success, thank your friends for being with you always, thank your servants for being at your service when you need them. 

There are people who can’t even dream of a life we have and gratitude is the best way to keep this life intact with us.

3.            Be Superlative in your skills

Professionals, athletes and entrepreneurs who are extremely good in their skills and jobs tend to be more humble and that’s probably because the weight of knowledge makes them bend and look more humble.  The more you work on your self, on your skills the less time you’ll have to criticize. 

Be very good in whatever you do be it serving your customers, working in your job, studying for your examinations.   

4.            Have Your Goals Planned Very Well

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi “the two most important days of your life are when you were born and the day when you realized the purpose of your birth”.

With a clear sense of a purpose in your life you will be more focused on achieving success and the fruits of success shall surely help you achieve humility.

5.            Enjoy Your Life

Whatever happens in our life, we should try and be happy.  In every incidence of our life try and find the best even if it’s not the most pleasant of the incidences.  Think of the opportunity that can be explored and work on it. 

In the end I would like to end with a beautiful quote from a book I read:

“Don’t sweat the small stuff…and its all small stuff”

I hope this article motivates you, inspires you and helps you achieve loads of success with even larger loads of humility.

Stay Blessed…

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Authored by Nimish Goel (www.nimishgoel.com), a qualified chartered accountant who’s passion is to coach young chartered accountants and aspiring students achieve the best in their life.  Nimish used to work with EY and PwC in India and has also worked with KPMG in Europe.  He now runs his own consulting company and runs a blog www.nimishgoel.com.  He can be reached for any queries and issues on his blog.  

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Just Finish Whatever You Start

Just Finish Whatever You Start

My son has started learning soccer and when he went for his first class we went along with him.  It was a good Sunday morning with nice cool breeze and bright sunshine.  A perfect weekend day to start with a sport.  After he started playing with his coach, my wife and me started to walk in the ground where the soccer training was happening.  It was a perfect moment for me to spend some time with her, when both of us were alone walking and chatting.  You don’t get such time after having children. J

While we were taking rounds of the ground, we saw three young boys in the age group 9-10 years playing cricket.  All three were playing passionately with each of them having their turns to bat and the other two were fielding and bowling.  After we had taken some 10 rounds, we could see all of them getting tired but still not losing the passion.  Each one of those boys was sweating badly because they were running a lot but as typical young children would behave, they were joyful whilst playing.

After around 20 rounds when we were passing by them, one of them said – “Yaar ye game to khatam hi nahin ho raha” (Guys, this game is just not getting finished).  The boy who was batting said – “Haan yaar isko jeet kar ya haar kar khatam karte hain” (Lets finish this game either by winning or losing).   When I heard him say that, I realized what a brilliant statement he made – “Lets finish whatever we have started”.

In our everyday life we do hundreds of activities where we start but not all of them are finished by us.  For example, a Sunday morning you may decide to clean up your room that has not been cleaned for a long time.  You start but then suddenly you get a call from your friend asking you to go to market with him/her.  You do resist by telling him/her you are busy but then he/she convinces you it wont take long and you can finish doing whatever you were, once you are back.  That very moment you think that its ok and let me go with him/her, have some fun and then I will finish this job after I am back.  Majority of the times you would either come late or even if you come on time, you may not feel like finishing that job.  The thought that comes in your mind is –“I will finish it in the evening”.   And then that evening never comes and the room is left as it was in the morning.

This happens with all of us.  The above example is a very small, daily routine example.  Let me take a situation where you would have perhaps thought something more meaningful such as –“learning a sport, say swimming”.  You know that swimming is very important and by learning it you would have a very active lifestyle.  So you decide to learn swimming and join some classes.  Initially you are very excited to join and learn hard.  But gradually over a period of time you start getting casual attending your classes or may be miss them because of lack of time due to studies or work.  And then starts the process of withdrawal because your brain is now getting used to not going to classes.  And then gradually you may leave what you started without properly finishing it. 

This situation can happen anywhere – be it your personal or professional life.  In our office, we start with a lot of initiatives, some may be related to good office practices or may be making your life better for yourself.  We start, we start good but then we don’t finish a lot of times.  And this eventually becomes a HABIT.

You may ask a question from me – “Nimish, why is it important to finish what we have started?  What would happen even if we don’t finish our tasks, since it’s only us who is watching ourselves and no one else is bothered about our activities”.  I think it’s a valid question because if no one is watching you do a particular assignment and if you don’t finish it, then no one would ever come to know about it and we are therefore, not exposed to public humiliation.  So, why bother so much? 

My answer to your question is – “It may not matter to anyone whether you have finished your job or not, but the only person who feels guilty of not finishing the job is YOU.  It is US who feels most of the pain though we may not show it to the outside world, but within we know that we FAILED.  And that is where our self-confidence and power starts to decrease.  Our self-conscious mind gets to know that we have not achieved our internal target and that starts to demotivate us.  Unless we feel good about ourselves, how can we even think of achieving great success?  Remember:

“The outer world is a reflection of our inner self.  Unless we are happy within, it is unlikely that we would feel happy about the outside world”   

Haven’t you experienced joy and satisfaction whenever you completed any task? How do you feel when you are studying and you finish your course.  An awesome feeling…right!  Similarly, when your boss assigns you a task and you finish it, how do you feel, extremely elated…right!  Any task when finished does create a moment of ecstasy.  You would have heard me talking in my blogs about the release of chemical - ‘dopamine’ in your body whenever you achieve something.  Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays very important role in our body and mind and this is linked with matters related to achievement, rewards and recognitions.  Whenever we achieve something, whether big or small our brain releases this neurotransmitter that gives our mind and body a KICK.  This whole process makes you feel more confident and you start to think about achieving more and more.  It’s like the Pepsi ad – “Ye Dil Mange More”. 

Reasons for not finishing the tasks

I thought through some of the reasons why we as human beings fail to finish our tasks? Why is it that we don’t finish our own tasks, leave aside the tasks given by anyone else to us?  Why do we cheat ourselves?  Here are a few reasons I could think of:

1.            Absence of clarity

The most important factor to my mind why we fail to complete a task is lack of clarity.  If we don’t know why are we doing any activity, how can we even think of completing it?  Yes, we might start it because it had to be but then to finish it, there has to be an absolute clarity. 

2.            No rewards, no motivation

The human mind and body works faster and efficiently if they can see some rewards at the end of the assignment.  Once we know there is a reward, we surely try to finish that job to enjoy its reward.  In the absence of any gains or rewards, there is a high probability losing interest to finish the job.

3.            Distraction Kitty

I define ‘Distraction Kitty’ as a pool of resources distracting you from your goals.  This can include anything including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, TV or even people who are in your circle and unable to add any value in your life.  All these things and people form your distraction kitty.  The more you have in your kitty, the more you are farther from your goals.  The less you have in your kitty, the closer you would be to your dreams.

4.            Discipline deficiency

The most common but powerful reasons to not finish your jobs are when you are discipline deficient.  The deficiency of this powerful characteristic leads the brain to believe that the job or assignment it not important and therefore, our brain and body starts to react accordingly.  An undisciplined mind cannot help achieve success in life.

Though, there may be many more reasons for not finishing our tasks, what is more important to me is how do you develop the capability or habit to finish the jobs that you have started.  Here, I want to provide some practical tips so that you make your journey to accomplish your goals and projects more successfully and joyfully:

(i)           Remove negative thoughts immediately

Whenever you get that urge to not complete your task, immediately try to remove it with something more positive and powerful.  Remember the outcome you would achieve and how you would feel once you finish that assignment.   The feeling of being happy and contended when the job gets finished is something that should always play in your mind.

(ii)        Have a winners mindset

Remember – “Quitters never win and Winners never quit”.  If you have to be a winner, you cannot afford to quit in between the job.  You will surely face situations that would urge you to quit and just relax, but remember what that young boy playing cricket (mentioned in the first para) said – Lets finish the game.  Finishing is very important for developing self confidence.

(iii)      Write your Journal to plan

Writing helps you focus on your goals and by writing and then reviewing them on a daily basis you will be able to train your mind to achieve them. 

Writing in your journal (http://nimishgoel.com/planner/) helps you plan your day and prioritize your activities.  You can read more on how to write a journal here - http://nimishgoel.com/write-journal-or-diary-daily-why-how/

(iv)       Celebrate your wins

This is the most important thing that you should surely do.  After finishing your task, celebrate your win.  You should definitely reward yourself in whatever form you can and give yourself a Pat on the back.  Small, small wins will help you achieve bigger results.

I have tested these above methods personally and have found them extremely useful.  I am not yet 100% successful in achieving my goals, but my endeavor now is to at least try and do whatever best I can.  I have surely move ahead using the above tools, and I am sure even you would.

Wishing you all success and green lights…

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Authored by Nimish Goel (www.nimishgoel.com), a qualified chartered accountant who’s passion is to coach young chartered accountants and aspiring students achieve the best in their life.  Nimish used to work with EY and PwC in India and has also worked with KPMG in Europe.  He now runs his own consulting company and runs a blog www.nimishgoel.com.  He can be reached for any queries and issues on his blog.  

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Persistence Is The Key – Very Much Needed Before The Exams

Persistence Is The Key – Very Much Needed Before The Exams

“The key of persistence shall open up any door that has been closed because of resistance”

I start my mornings usually by going up to my house terrace and get a breath of fresh air.  It feels really nice when cool breeze hits your face and makes you feel highly refreshed and relaxed.  And this, followed by the sunrise is a spectacular view to watch. 

Everyday what I also notice is the activity of birds that makes the whole morning environment quite chirpy.  You see thousands of birds flying here and there making it very difficult to imagine if they are creating any particular pattern whilst in the air.  Sometimes you see hundreds flocked and flying together and sometimes you see only a couple of them sitting together trying to identify what to do.  Perhaps they are mates trying to figure out their future J.

Whatever be the no of birds in the air, there is one thing that clearly emerges out, i.e., their desire to go and fetch food or water for themselves.  You can notice each of them fly down to a place that has some food, pick it up from their beak and then fly down to a tree and sit and eat.  Some of them feed their children and relentlessly fly down to pick up food and eat it.  If you carefully watch them, you notice a superb level of persistence, i.e. the ability to continuously fly down and pick up food and fee the children or themselves and then again fly down to pick up food.  This process continues till the time they are either no more hungry or are not left with any more food.

It is awesome to see their commitment to fly despite all odds such as bad weather or a threat to get eaten by a cat or any other animal.  The birds continuously persist in their motive to find food and never stop until they successfully achieve the desired result. 

What I wanted to bring out through the above illustration is that if each one of us adopts the bird like attitude of continuously making the effort to achieve our objectives, we can surely achieve our goals and consequently, a much better life.   The life of a student demands lot of hard work and persistence and unless we develop that attitude, it is going to be very difficult to survive and grow.  Relentlessly pursuing your objectives, filled up with the desire to achieve your goals is the key to success and in my personal opinion people having that attitude are the real winners. 

A lot of students ask me – “Nimish, how do you develop persistence or the attitude of not giving up on your dreams.  They ask me that in this world there are so many things to do and therefore, we sometime get lost in the mist.  How do we keep moving with the flag of our goal held high considering there are so many obstacles on the way”.  These are highly relevant questions and more important in today’s times when there are so many things to distract you.  There has never been a time before today when the world was inundated with so much information, so much media and so much social networking.  Today, people find it very difficult to get away with Facebook and the temptation to not look at WhatsApp whenever a new message arrives. Obviously, all these things including TV form a major part of what I call the ‘Distraction Kitty’.   The Distraction Kitty is nothing but a pool of all the items distracting you from your goals and consequently, taking you away from your dreams.

In my personal opinion the only way one can get away from your Distraction Kitty is when you have a strong ‘Desire’.  Unless and until you have a very strong desire to achieve something, your Distraction Kitty is going to sway you away from your dream goals.  People who have succeeded in life are the ones who have had very strong desire to become rich, very strong desire to achieve success, very strong desire to create big organizations and a very strong desire to change the world. 

In addition to having a strong desire to achieve your goals, there has to be a strong ‘Faith’ in your dreams.  Unless you believe that something good is going to happen to you, in my opinion no good will happen.  You have to have a strong desire and that desire has to be backed up with equivalent amount of faith.  You would have heard stories of disabled people climbing up mountains, or people without legs participating in cycling events or children of slum dwellers clearing IAS or CA papers and topping the charts.  All these are brilliant examples of the terms ‘desire’ plus ‘faith’.  These people have a very strong desire to achieve what they want and when they start they have an unwavering faith in their capabilities and in their actions to achieve the results.  They simply ignore the thought of giving up and that’s exactly what is needed to become a champion.

From my personal experience I can share that when I was doing CA, there was not even a single thought that ran in my mind whether I would clear CA or not.  I remember the motley group of people in our firm and despite being different, all of us in the batch of the year 1999 had one common desire – “the desire to become CA in the year 2002”.  And honestly, none of us ever had any doubt in our ability to clear the exams.  Our faith to pass was extremely strong it led the majority of us including myself become CA in the minimum stipulated time.

Its end of March now and only a month left before May 2015 attempt appears before you.  I think this is the time to work extremely hard, burn the midnight oil and leave nothing to chance.  And along with hard work, have faith in your capabilities and just believe in your self.

I want to suggest few tips that might help you develop faith in your abilities, faith in yourself and the attitude that YOU WILL MAKE IT:

1.            Prepare a list of affirmations

For the next 45 days make a habit to say positive affirmations to yourself.  You have to convince your subconscious mind that you are born to win and there is no way any obstacle can deviate you from your goals. 

I have been a staunch believer of affirmations and in a lot of my previous blogs I have talked about how writing and loudly speaking out the affirmations influence your subconscious mind.  Our subconscious mind gets influenced with images and words and the more we affirm to ourselves that we can do it and that clearing examinations are possible, the more our subconscious mind would make it a reality. 

Some examples of affirmations you can use:

(a)         Everyday and in every way I am getting closer to my goal of becoming a chartered accountant;

(b)         I can see myself holding the chartered accountancy degree in the attempt of May 2015;

(c)          I am very well prepared for the May 2015 exams and I will surely pass in this attempt;

(d)         There is nothing that can stop me from achieving my goal to clear the papers in May 2015 attempt and I can see myself very clearly becoming a chartered accountant.

Similarly, you can create your own affirmations and read them loudly 5-6 times in a day.

2.            Emotionalize your affirmations

For affirmations to work in your favour, it is important to have strong emotions in them.  Emotionalizing means putting lot of feelings so that the subconscious mind attracts the thoughts and then put them into action. 

Research on this topic has shown that when emotions are thrown in the thoughts and mixed with faith, the subconscious mind gets charged up and ensures that the same gets materialized.  It may sound slightly cheeky to you, but this concept has been proven scientifically and has been used by top performers.

When you are speaking your affirmations loudly, feel as if you have already got what you want and you are already in possession of your desired object.   If your desire is to clear the exams then whilst speaking your affirmations completely submerge yourself with the thought that you have already received the CA degree and behave the way you would behave when the results would be out in July 2015.  Have the same feeling that you would have when you would see your results.  Have complete faith that whatever you are speaking is going to get the desired result for you.    

3.            Be consistent

Whatever you do, be consistent with it.  Whether it is following the schedule you have prepared at the beginning or revision that you do everyday before you pick up any new topic or saying affirmations to yourself 5-6 times a day.  Be highly consistent with your actions.  Remember – “Consistency is the key to mastery”.

4.            Have a Bubble around you

At this stage it is critical to cancel all the noises around you and completely focus on studies.  There should not be anything that should take priority than your studies, food and rest.  These are the only 3 things that should form part of your life for the next 45 days and until the exams are over.

Create a mental bubble around you so that nothing else other than the 3 things I mentioned above enter your life.  If there is anything else, just don’t allow it.  Do this consciously and do it well.  You cannot afford to play with your career and with your parents and friends expectations. Just Do It!

5.            Don’t try to do too many things

I am sure you would know it but its better if not too many experiments are done at this point of time.  You have nearly 45 days left and therefore, it is critical to be calm, positive and just revise whatever you have studied so far.  It might be much better to revise properly what you have already studied so far, rather than studying new topics.

I would like to end this article with a beautiful quote:

“If you want something you never had, you have got to do something you have never done”

Wishing you all green lights and loads of good luck…

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Authored by Nimish Goel (www.nimishgoel.com), a qualified chartered accountant who’s passion is to coach young chartered accountants and aspiring students achieve the best in their life.  Nimish used to work with EY and PwC in India and has also worked with KPMG in Europe.  He now runs his own consulting company and runs a blog www.nimishgoel.com.  He can be reached for any queries and issues on his blog. 

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GST – Grow and Share Together

The much awaited Goods and Services Tax (‘GST’) now seems to be a reality as the broad contours are slightly visible.  The Finance Minister in his Budget speech made it clear he has all the intentions to implement GST from April 1, 2016.  Though, we have seen in the past (during VAT introduction days) that statements made by the Ministers and their actual implementation are always poles apart, it seems this time the Government has something ready in its hands.

I happened to meet a former senior CBEC Member during one of the Budget sessions and he informed the Government has already done a lot of work in relation to GST.  The most important ‘Place of Supply’ Rules have been drafted and GST legislation to an extent has also been finalized.  He was of the firm opinion that if political will exists, there is a good chance GST getting introduced from the above date.  His statement was both a matter of exhilaration and disappointment because on one side he excited me by disclosing that a lot of groundwork has been done but the same was caveated by mentioning the words ‘political will’.  We all know how important and crucial projects have got stalled in the past only because of political unwillingness.  Time will only unfurl whether we would see GST happening next year or not.

But definitely some steps in the Budget 2015 indicate the willingness to create a path for GST.  The rate of Service tax increased to14% that may eventually go up to 16% (if Swach Bharat Cess is introduced) is an indication to the service providers to get ready for at least that rate under the GST.  Though, the probability of GST rates more than 16% cannot be ruled out, there is definitely an indication now that the rate would at least be 16%.  The manufacturers are already paying at least 16% (12.5% excise duty and 4% VAT or 2% CST) and therefore, through this amendment the convergence of different rates seems to be happening.  Further, GST being a tax without exemptions, the Government has done some work on that front as well with removal of few exemptions.  So all in all, a good and fair move towards GST.

From a CEO or the CFO’s perspective, it looks like time has come to probably get some bit of understanding on how this new piece of legislation would unfurl things and its likely impact on the business operations.  Until now, not many people were looking at this seriously, but we feel there is no harm in getting some basic education on how GST is going to impact your company’s bottom line. 

The CFO/ CEO’s would also need to ascertain the tax impact on the entire value/supply chain and its potential impact on the product prices and bottom line.  Currently, there are multiple non-CENVATable taxes that organization's pay and those add to the prices of the finished products.  These include taxes like Octroi, Entry tax, CST, Luxury taxes etc.  Once GST subsumes all these taxes, there is going to be an immediate impact on the product price and the bottom line of your organization.  Consequently, a deep understanding of how these taxes would be subsumed and a careful monitoring of their impact on the costs of the business is important. 

A critical implication that arises out of the above is managing the cash flows resulting out of payment of taxes at each stage.  Currently taxes are not paid at each stage whereas under the GST, each leg of the transaction shall be taxed, resulting in cash flow issues.  This would also get heightened with the increase in the rates of GST vis-à-vis current rates of VAT and Service tax.

We need to understand GST shall be a transaction tax and consequently, each and every transaction has to be analyzed and thread-bear to figure out the tax implications.  Further, the current concepts of ‘sale of goods’ and ‘provision of service’ shall be completely replaced with the concept of ‘supply of goods and supply of service’.  The term ‘supply’ is a much wider term and means even if goods or services are not sold, they would still get taxed under GST by virtue of them being supplied.  Transactions relating to ‘stock transfers’ are proposed to be included in the ambit.

In addition to the transactional issues that would merit a deep-dive, there is another aspect requiring a significant overhauling and that is the IT set-up of your company relating to accounting and taxation.  GST would bring with itself plethora of compliances and if you operate in various states, it would mean maintaining documentation for all the states and effectively managing credit movements across the India.  Being dual in nature, each company would need two separate registrations, one with the Centre and the other with the State.  For service providers who only provide services and pay Service tax, this would mean added compliance since they would need to pay both CGST (Central GST) and SGST (State GST) and undertake compliances at both the levels. 

As per me, the other larger issue unrelated to tax requiring a well-designed change management strategy is the attitude of the staff and other stakeholders.  The current regime of taxation has been place for last 60 years and therefore any change unless embraced well within the organization can be quite catastrophic.  Proper education on the new provisions, their impact on the business & on the roles and responsibilities of the staff and how this change is going to make their life easy and more profitable has to be properly fed in the system and particularly into the staff’s minds.  More than hard issues, it is the softer issues that are going to be a key in ensuring a smooth transition for any organization.

I think in order to get away from the last minute rush and getting into a panic mode, the organizations should start sensitizing themselves on the broad nuances of GST and how it is likely to impact them. After all, only those who handle situations proactively are the ones who manage changes quite effectively.

I would like to end with a highly relevant quote by Jack Welch:

“An organization’s ability to learn and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage”

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Authored by Nimish Goel (www.nimishgoel.com), a chartered accountant with more than 12 years of experience and who’s passion is to coach and help young chartered accountants and aspiring students achieve the best in their life.  Nimish used to work with EY and PwC in India and has also worked with KPMG in Europe.  He now runs his own consulting company and runs a blog www.nimishgoel.com.  He can be reached for any queries and issues on his blog and on his Facebook page “Nimish Goel Blog”. 

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