A brainchild of the BCAS, the RRC has metamorphosed into an outstanding avenue for collective learning, recreation and networking. The BCAS-RRC has constantly evolved with the changing times; it has brought many refinements over the past several years in its format, content and structure. The depth of technical content, the multi-faceted, integrated approach to burning issues, the experience of professional stalwarts and the actionable knowledge insights made available ensure that every event delivers far, far more than expectations. Now the flagship event of the BCAS, it is an ideal breeding ground for interactive learning where participants with varied seniority and from vastly different cultures, geographies and experiences come under one roof to facilitate some thought-provoking dialogue and discussions.
The 53rd Edition of the Residential Refresher Course (RRC) of the Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society (BCAS) was no different. It was held at the pilgrim spot of Tirupati from Thursday the 9th to Sunday the 12th January, 2020. It attracted 138 participants from about 24 cities across the country.
The 2020 BCAS-RRC started with the promise of empowering the participants with the ‘Edge of Knowledge at the Cusp of the New Decade’. The participants reached the temple town of Tirupati on Thursday, 9th January and straightaway plunged into a unique ice-breaking session. This session was aimed at stimulating interaction between the participants in order to enable far greater bonhomie between them over the course of the next few days.
BCAS President Manish Sampat launched the inaugural session by welcoming the participants and giving them a brief overview about the Society. Narayan Pasari, Chairman of the Seminar, Membership and Public Relations Committee, spoke about the RRC and detailed the schedule. The esteemed Guest of Honour, Ashok Dhere, BCAS Past President, delivered an excellent address on Professional Ethics. Suhas Paranjpe, Vice-President, and Pradeep Thanawala, Co-Chairman and Convener of the Committee, also graced the opening session.
The inaugural session was followed by the curtain-raiser Integrated Panel Discussion wherein Umesh Gala, Sunil Gabhawalla and Khozema Anajwala discussed the intricacies of case studies dealing with burning issues across the domains of direct taxation, indirect taxation and accounting, respectively. The panel was steered by Raman Jokhakar, Past President, and Anand Bathiya. At the end of the discussion, a rapid-fire round followed which showcased the wit and astuteness of the panellists in the face of impromptu questions being shot at them.
The second day, Friday, was the one that many were eagerly looking forward to. A visit to Sri Venkateswara Swamy Vaari Temple (Tirupati Balaji) was specially arranged for all the participants and everyone was blessed with the opportunity to have darshan in traditional attire.
Later that day, it was back to business, with V. Ramnath’s presentation on ‘Taxation Aspects of Capital Receipts’. This was followed by a group discussion on ‘Expert Case Studies in Accounting, Auditing and Company Law’ devised by Santosh Maller and presented by Chirag Doshi. The group discussion truly satiated the knowledge needs on the subject at hand and lived up to expectations as one of the most efficient modes of learning.
The Theme of the 2020 BCAS-RRC was focus on ‘Emerging Areas of Practice’. Handpicked thought-leadership sessions were arranged on various emerging areas of practice of (a) Forensic and Fraud Detection by Chetan Dalal, (b) Financial Re-engineering by Shagun Kumar, and (c) Risk Advisory / Internal Audit by Nandita Parekh.
A unique ‘40-Under-40’ open session was held on Saturday evening wherein 40 young CA attendees had an open house town-hall style discussion and obtained some practical insights from Nandita Parekh. Saturday night featured an entertainment event with participants singing and dancing along some popular retro Bollywood and new-age numbers for the musical housie.
On the final day, the participants discussed the paper on ‘Expert Case Studies on Direct Taxes’ written and presented by T. Banusekar. The participants reported tremendous benefit from the challenging case studies and detailed explanations provided by the paper writer. The concluding session witnessed feedback by a few participants, specially the first-timers, and an extensive vote of thanks to all those who helped in the planning, conduct and success of the RRC.
An event like the RRC facilitates various agendas. It is a common ground for knowledge-sharing, networking and exploring. For the organisers and participants, it is an experience of a lifetime. One more successful RRC
to the credit of team BCAS – till the 54th RRC event next year!
