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She always had a special love for numbers and chose to pursue this passion by becoming a Chartered Accountant. She now leads the Accounts Team and a part of the Finance Team at Godfrey Phillips India Limited. Being a qualified Chartered Accountant is in itself quite a challenge.
Today's Shero, Beenu Agarwal shares her story and thoughts with us here.
What inspired you to choose a career in Accounting and Finance?
I have always been a numbers person. When I was young, my father taught me quick tips and tricks to solve complicated Maths problems and I had come to love numbers as a result. In my time, while growing up, one had to choose either between a career in science or commerce. And my choice was clearly the latter. My father has been a great inspiration for me in this field, given that he himself was an accounts teacher and he has helped me in every step of my journey to be a CA.
How have your past job experiences helped you evolve in the professional world?
I have been working at the same company for over 20 years. I had joined as an AM and had to work my way up to this position. It has been an exciting journey. My past experiences in this same field have helped me understand the radical shift that the accounts/finance function has undergone with the advancement in technology. When I had started a lot of work was being done manually, spending long hours on detailed audit sheets, accounts /finance was merely a transaction and reporting function. Also not a lot of emphasis was put on personal and team development. However with time I inculcated a lot of technical skills like ERP applications to automate our processes which gave us more space to take up more responsibilities like strategizing company growth and improve cross teams communication and take up people development as a priority as well.
What are the top 3 challenges you face in this field of work?
1. Finance IT and automating processes
2. Like most fields, accounts always has tight deadlines. Meeting timelines sometimes becomes a challenge.
3. Innovation
What advice can you give young women aspiring to be CA's?
I would say- if you love it, go for it! Everyday is a new challenge. It keeps you on your toes. Account teams in companies are going through innovation as a result of evolving IT, government regulations etc which makes it even more interesting in the current time. Its becoming very competitive. There are lot of opportunities now for CA’s.
How do you manage your work-life balance?
I believe there is nothing called work-life balance. Time management and prioritisation in critical moments is very important. I always keep in my mind that I am doing my best and never try to compare with others, be it for family or work . You have to love what you are doing and everything will be balanced. I do try to set out time for my family, friends and now for my hobbies too.
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