The 71st Annual General Meeting of the BCAS was, for the first time, held online on Monday, 6th July, 2020.
The President, Mr. Manish Sampat, took the chair and called the meeting to order. All the business as per the agenda contained in the notice was conducted, including adoption of accounts and appointment of auditors.
Mr. Samir Kapadia, Hon. Joint Secretary, announced the results of the election of the President, the Vice-President, two Honorary Secretaries, the Treasurer and eight members of the Managing Committee for the year 2020-21.
The ‘Jal Erach Dastur Awards’ for the Best Articles and Features appearing in the BCAS Journal during the year 2019-20 were also presented on the occasion.
For Best Article the Award went to CA Bangaru Ishwar Teja, CA Nitish Ranjan and CA Dinesh Chawla for their Article: Income Tax E-Assessments – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. The Award for Best Feature went to CA Jayant Thakur for Securities Laws.
The July special issue of the BCA Journal was e-released by Mr. Deepak Parekh. It carried special articles on ‘Risk and Technology Challenges for Professionals’ in addition to the regular articles and features. An e-book, ‘MLI – DECODED’, authored by CA Ganesh Rajgopal, was also released.
Before the conclusion of the AGM, members, including Past Presidents of the BCAS, were invited to share their views and observations about the Society.
The Founding Day lecture was delivered at the end of the formal proceedings of the AGM. It was an outstanding oration by CA Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC, who spoke on the topic ‘Chartered Accountants in Uncharted Times’. It was attended online by more than 3,000 professionals on Zoom and the YouTube channel of the BCAS.
OUTGOING PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Manish Sampat: I feel very proud and satisfied as I rise for the last time as President of our illustrious Society. It is an honour and a privilege to have led the Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society during a memorable and unprecedented year. We continue to march ahead and strive to achieve greater heights of performance year after year by building on the excellent work done by all previous Presidents. The last three months have been challenging and unmatched for us in terms of conducting our normal activities of education, training and spreading knowledge. But we converted all the challenges that came our way into opportunities and continued with our endeavour of spreading knowledge with even more vigour and zeal.
I would like to begin with where I had ended my installation speech. I had mentioned then that the BCAS is a collective organisation and the President, by chance, gets one year to head it. And now, after a year, I am fully convinced about this fact. What I did in the year gone by was the collective effort of the entire team and I was just fortunate to lead this team. As it is said in cricket parlance –‘the captain is as good as the team’. So, you be the judge and you will know just who is worthy of credit for all the good things that took place during the year. But I take responsibility for the debits, if any, that might have accumulated.
In my acceptance speech I had also mentioned that I am indebted and owe a lot to this organisation because it has had a significant role and contribution in my professional development. Contributing to it by heading it was my chance to repay our Society. But I feel that this did not happen. Just like a mother always gives to her children and does not accept anything in return, it was BCAS that kept on giving me more and more during the year rather than me repaying my debts.
It taught me lessons in life, management and leadership.
I learnt how to deal with people and difficult situations.
I have learnt that along with power comes responsibility and you need to be humble and considerate when you are in a position of power.
I learnt management lessons of collective leadership – if you want to be a successful leader you can’t be running alone and you need to take everyone along with you.
By the end of my tenure, I matured as a person and as a leader. I learnt how to be patient and understanding and learnt people management.
But it is nature’s law that in the circle of life you should never take more than what you can give. So I have tried my best and sincerely put in all my efforts in whatever I did as President, to maintain and build upon the goodwill, ethos and value systems of our Society.
Such is the greatness and selfless nature of the institution. It always gives, gives and gives.
I started my journey as President with anxiety, not knowing how the year would pan out but I go back with so many beautiful memories and with wonderful, long-lasting friends made on the way. During the year I also got a lot of support from everyone, at times even from unexpected sources. No doubt, personal relations count but I think the support was more for the Society rather than for me personally. Yes, personally, I became close friends to many Past Presidents, Managing Committee members, Conveners (whom I had just known) and this is going to last for a long time to come.
So far we have been successful and are in meaningful existence for more than seven decades; this in itself is testimony and shows that we have got something right. There is something strong and positive in our DNA, our value system, our processes and the entire structure.
Imagination and innovation do not come with an age limit and have no expiry date. At our Society, we benefit from the diversity in thinking, perspectives, experience and age. We serve our members through expertise developed through experience as well as innovative ideas from the youth. We need a balance between both and cannot do away with any one of them. That is why we remain relevant, committed and respected even today.
During the year we attempted some experiments and did away with some past practices – we tried to do things differently rather than doing different things. I am satisfied and happy to announce that most of our experiments were successful and were appreciated by members. As we move forward we continue to have the same vision of continuing to grow and transform ourselves for the benefit of all our stakeholders who have trusted us and had faith in us. Some of the initiatives include LM in the suburbs, increasing the number of joint programmes with other organisations, industry bodies, outstation programmes, sector- and industry-specific events, Women’s Day LM, Bapu@150, IA RSC, etc. to name a few.
On the financial front, let me be honest. Some may not like this, but I would like to mention it. From the beginning of the year I had decided and aimed for building on our coffers and strengthening our financial position. And our financial performance for F.Y. 2019-2020 speaks for itself. No doubt this year we benefited from an increase in subscription income (without any fall in membership) but this year had other challenges such as the load of two budget meetings in a year, loss of revenue from a couple of well-paying programmes during the last ten days of March and falling interest rates. However, due to strategic efforts on identifying avenues for raising revenue (without overcharging our members), bumper sale of the Referencer, calendar and pocket dairies, financial prudence, cost-cutting measures and avoiding wasteful expenditure, we were able to achieve a financial performance that will come handy on a rainy day.
Things are going to change for me from tomorrow. I cross the floor and go back to the other side. From tomorrow I once again become a common member. The question is what will I miss from tomorrow?
My affair with BCAS comes to an end; but it’s like a nasha – the more you get involved, the greater is the intoxication. Some of the things that will change are:
- Checking multiple email IDs in the inbox.
- Many seniors addressed me as ‘President’– so I will become Manish Sampat again from tomorrow.
- Many of my contemporaries were addressing me with the suffix ‘bhai’. Removing ‘Bhai’ from my name, so that I go back to being just Manish for all of you.
- My WhatsApp status line before my term was ‘Not responsible for delay in reply’ which I had changed after taking over as President. I hope to go back to my earlier status.
- I will miss the lessons in MLI, digital economy and EL that I used to compulsorily get from the International Taxation Committee.
- Writing twelve President’s Columns, month on month (in time) was a real challenge. It was like having twelve deliveries in the year.
- Most importantly, now I will not be able to make excuses both at home and at office about being busy with BCAS work, which I have got so used to now.
- There are many more such instances, but I can’t list all of them here.
I need to thank quite a few people who have tolerated all my whims and tantrums during the year.
First, my family – The situation at home is such that I have been completely written off. Initially, I was asked whether I would make it for a late night movie and I was included in the dinner plans; but since the past couple of years I have never been consulted, my ticket is never bought and I have not been a part of any plans by the family. So much so, that on birthdays my wife continues to get surprise birthday cakes and other such gifts and I get a yoga mat as my birthday gift!
My CNK family, partners, staff and more particularly my team… I always had this privilege in office and I was relieved from any responsibilities as I had the excuse of being busy with the BCAS Presidentship, but now I go back and don’t have any excuses left with me. Thank you, CNK family and all my partners and staff for supporting me, for tolerating my weird time schedules and temper at times. But I know that since I have four Past Presidents with me at CNK, they would understand me. Shariqbhai, Gautambhai, Himanshubhai and Sanjivbhai were always there whenever I needed any advice. I must make a special mention of Praful and all others in my team who ensured that work continued smoothly even without my physical involvement.
A big thank you to all the Past Presidents who showered their blessings on me and were always available whenever I called upon them. I hope I have lived up to their expectations and the faith and responsibility they had bestowed on me.
All the Chairmen and Co-Chairpersons of the Committees – I had said that these are the captains of
the tournament and found each and every one of them working harder than anyone else. I believe that since they are all Past Presidents, they know the Society better than anyone else. They can’t go wrong. The entire credit for the success of all the events goes to them and my contribution is limited to giving them a free hand and never getting involved or interfering with their working. Even today, as I speak, a representation has been sent by the Taxation Committee.
In my Management Committee, I got the most wanted support. My thanks to all the Committee members for their active and constructive participation. I was blessed with a very vibrant and vocal Managing Committee and many new ideas and initiatives emerged from it. I believed in empowering it and involving them in the decision-making process because the future leadership of BCAS will evolve and emerge from here. We have to ensure that they are groomed and ready for taking up leadership positions.
As for my Office-Bearers, there was continuous consultation with them and all decisions were taken collectively and unanimously.
- In Suhas we have a silent worker who does not like to make any noise but contributes in his own style; he was always available and a big supporter.
- In Abhay we have a very mature and able administrator – custodian of our financial resources, he ensured that we got more than the adequate surplus which I had targeted.
- In Mihir we have a perfect communicator, observant and very good at all the Committee and back office paperwork.
- Samir (my old buddy) again is a very silent, dedicated worker, technologically savvy and loyal to the institution to the core.
- I can say that my ‘wolf pack’ rocked and we had a great time together.
- I also thank the support staff at the BCAS, Upendra, Shreya, Javed and their team. I might have been harsh on them at times, but I was just acting as a trustee and in the interest of the Society and had no other intentions. I also thank all our vendors, printers and others for their support throughout the year.
Finally, a big Thank You to each and every member. Whatever was achieved during the year is only because of the faith and the patronage of all of you. I got unprecedented support from members every time and for every event. We did not have to cancel even a single programme due to insufficient enrolment. I was lucky that in all the LM, events, workshops, RRCs we had very good attendance and the feedback was very encouraging. Even at live streaming of the budget there was record attendance, better than in the recent past.
All new initiatives executed during the year have been mentioned in detail in the Managing Committee report so I would not like to repeat them; but I would now like to speak about the developments in the last three months.
Speaking today, I think that the pace at which the activities of the BCAS were being carried out, only an external force or an act of God could have stopped them.
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. So far we were only talking about and planning to go
digital with our activities. But the circumstances since March have forced us to reinvent ourselves. I am happy to inform you that we quickly transited to an online platform and were able to reach a much wider audience and get high profile and knowledgeable speakers for BCAS programmes. To our immense satisfaction, our internal assessment actually shows that we have been successful in delivering more man-hours of training by way of live attendance and follow-up hits on our YouTube channel. We managed to clock almost half of the man-hours of training (during the three months of lockdown) than we were usually clocking in in an entire year through physical meetings.
There a few misses also during the year, some incomplete agenda which I could not complete:
The BCAS mobile App.
The Professional Accountants’ course.
Organising a cricket tournament – the BCA Premier League.
Naming the junction outside our office as BCAS Chowk.
Having a core team in place to start planning and working towards our 75th anniversary.
At times I took time to take a decision and left it till the last, but that perhaps is my working style. I take too much pressure at the end but ultimately deliver. But frankly, I think I enjoy this pressure.
I think you require strong administrative and people management skills to run an organisation and this is what I have benefited from and gained.
Online events are here to stay and this brings a different set of challenges – will we require the administrative set-up that we currently have? We need to reorganise and restructure our internal operations and infrastructure which should be the focus in the coming year.
To conclude, my biggest take-away from my term as President is what I realised and learnt: That difference of viewpoints is healthy for an organisation to grow and remain dynamic. There could be different and completely opposite strong views but all volunteers are working in the interest of the institution and the leader is responsible for building consensus, finding a balance and coming out with a win-win solution acceptable to all.
With these words, I wish the incoming team of Suhas, Abhay, Mihir, Samir and Chirag all the very best. I have worked with them so I am very confident of their capabilities and abilities to have a super successful year ahead.
Now I say a final goodbye and a big thank you and gratitude for all your love, support and affection. I vacate this office with a lot of satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
Thank you.
INCOMING PRESIDENT’S SPEECH
SUHAS PARANJPE: This is a very humble, sentimental and responsible moment for me as I take up the responsibility as President of this august body, the Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society, BCAS.
Before I start, let me first remember and thank all those who have been part of my journey both in my career and at BCAS.
First and foremost, thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the respected Past Presidents who have contributed so much to this Society. I am humbled that they all considered me fit and proper for this position. The list of all my mentors and guides at BCAS is too long to quote and I just don’t have the words to thank them.
However, since we have just observed the auspicious day of Guru Purnima, let me take this opportunity to seek all your blessings with folded hands and this prayer:
त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव ।
त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ।
Thank you, all Past Presidents and my seniors.
Today, I would like to remember and thank my father, the late Shri Shivaram Paranjpe who always gave me a good perspective and directions at the right time and put me in the right hands which shaped my career. Thank you, Baba.
My mother Smt. Shalini and my wife Swati had full faith and confidence in me and supported and encouraged me throughout this journey. Swati plays the important role of critic for my all-round improvement. Our son Aarav is too young to understand about BCAS and though he entered into our life as per his convenience, he gave us the purpose, the focus and better directions. Thank you, my family.
My sincere thanks go out to the late CA Dr. Rashmibhai Zaveri. It was because of his relations with my father that I got connected with my partners. Thank you, Rashmibhai, and I am sure you are happy and smiling today.
CA Mayurbhai Vora and CA Bharatbhai Chovatia, who have been my partners and mentors for the past three decades, have always been the force behind me in my journey as a professional. They are like the magic stone पारस (paras) that converts things into gold. Their families always treated me as their own member. My younger partners, Kinnari and Bhakti Vora, Ronak Rambia, Vinit Nagda and our enthusiastic but matured youth brigade in the office have always stood behind me. Thank you, my office friends and colleagues.
My special thanks to outgoing President Manish for his guidance and for always making himself available to me for help and assistance. Under your Presidentship, Manish, you could carry out many activities and kept the BCAS flag flying high.
Your year was a combination of Physical + Virtual. With all-round support this year, we could plan for the year 2020-21 an equally vibrant and innovative plan of action, full of experiments and possibilities for the future. As I understand it, the year ahead would be Virtual + Physical. I must say that you have ensured an excellent foundation in the last three months for the Virtual part of the year ahead. We wish you good luck and happy times ahead – both professionally and personally. However, I wish you will continue to be a guiding force for the BCAS in the years to come. Thank you, Manish.
Let me now move ahead.
Since mid-March, 2020, the whole world has been living in challenging times due to the Covid pandemic. The long lockdown has given each one of us a different perspective to life, work, relationships – the challenges and opportunities. All of us have now experienced different situations like Work from Home, Work for home (without domestic help), strict social distancing norms, events on Zoom, Hangout, etc. We are now all familiar with these ‘new normals’.
Let me share with you two situations – (on a lighter note) to give you a different perspective over and above the ‘new normals’ as mentioned above. It relates to the game of lawn tennis, which is my favourite.
We did not see a tennis court for more than three months – an unprecedented situation. As you are aware, in tennis we are allowed to play only singles games and not doubles due to social distancing. In singles, since you do not enjoy the support of a doubles partner, you have to be far more fitter with a lot more stamina. This is the current situation and (I hope) it would change in future.
Secondly, there are no ball boys on the courtside as of now to help the players, they have all gone to their native places or disappeared. When we play, other players become ball boys and vice versa. This is self-help on the tennis court – and it can be termed as an aatmanirbhar experience.
Now let me move to more serious business, to give you a brief of the BCAS Theme for 2020-21 and also our annual plan.
Our focus areas for this year will be:
(1) Higher reach and scalability – all around – to the members and the profession at a reasonable cost;
(2) Hand-holding for MSME / SME businesses and practitioners for a sustainable future;
(3) Digital and technology transformation with experienced hands and youth force.
These focus areas have been articulated in three ideas condensed in three headings, viz.
‘Tradition – Transition – Transformation’
In the above logo, the sign of the pen represents ‘TRADITION’. And the six squares at the top represent the digital medium.
- TRADITION: OUR FOUNDATION
At BCAS, our core values, our ethical practices, our governance, our tradition of hand-holding by seniors are our foundation and shall continue to guide us during the phase of transition and transformation. BCAS has always been and would continue to be a principle-centred, learning-oriented institute with quality services as its benchmark. In the last three months, BCAS and its dedicated team of volunteers have demonstrated that even in the time of lockdown, BCAS is proactive and adaptable to the changing situations. In other words, TRADITION AS FOUNDATION CONTINUES TO GUIDE US.
- TRANSITION
Transition is a process of change. It could be a short-term phase but it is crucial. World organisations and practices cannot just transform themselves tomorrow morning. They have to go through the crucial phases of transition. In nature, there are some of the best examples of transition, such as the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly, or an eagle which starts the process of change at a later stage in life for survival.
Why only nature, we also have Indian corporates transiting from a single textile mill to petrochemicals, to oil and gas, to retail and digital platforms, and with much more to come. You will agree with me that it makes all Indians proud to be a part of such a transition.
In our profession in general, and on the BCAS platform in particular, there are CAs who started as proprietors and transited themselves into bigger / larger personalities and firms consolidating and becoming Indian giants. There are several in-house examples.
This year, with large corporates finalising their accounts with virtual audits, with AGM’s being conducted online, including our own, our events, including RRCs, were and would be conducted online. This is the conceptual change of new experiments and experiences beyond our imagination. In other words, THIS IS THE YEAR OF CHANGE / TRANSITION.
- TRANSFORMATION:
Transformation is an outcome of change or transition.
Today, we are in the era of digital transformation. This will help us to enhance our reach and scalability without boundaries and at reasonable costs. Apart from this, it could help us to reach out to the MSMEs / SMEs and our large family of BCAS members by hand-holding them for a sustainable future. Yes, there would be less personal / human touch. But I am sure technology will evolve itself and adopt a human face with innovation and creativity. Sitting in your office or home, ease of technology would give you an experience of being in Vizag or in Kodaikanal or in Bali. It looks like this would be our Residential Refresher Course module this year.
In view of the economy taking a big hit, it has become much more crucial for Chartered Accountants, including the small and medium PR actioners to transform themselves into the role of business advisers apart from helping their clients in compliances.
On the healthcare front which is so critical now, it has become so important to transform ourselves to different levels of body immunity to deal with this virus or other kinds of diseases in future. Each and every one of us should follow a specific fitness and meditation regime to stay healthy and safe – both physically and mentally.
Yes, we need to avoid an overdose of webinars. But with the outstanding quality of our contents, faculties and administrative discipline and capabilities, digital transformation would give us an opportunity to take BCAS to new heights. It would be easier and cost-effective to connect with sister organisations and different regional organisations and their members. There are possibilities that with innovative initiatives we can reach the 10,000 membership mark which has been in our bucket list for a long time.
In the next generation, youth force would be the torch-bearers of this transformation under the guidance and support of experienced mentors. The youth are the technology anchors and are better equipped to handle it. This year all the Committees have added more youth power with the specific aim of giving them opportunities to perform and excel.
A robust and secured technology platform and infrastructure is the backbone of this transformation arena. We might have opted for a particular platform today, based on technical inputs of the Committees, but we would try to be vigilant in respect of the strength and security parameters of the tech platforms. Suggestions and guidance from time to time would be welcome to keep us on track.
This is the ANNUAL PLAN.
BCAS is a dynamic platform to perform. It also gives you the power to perform.
Let me share with you two personal experiences. First, when I was nominated as Vice-President for 2019-20, one of the senior Past Presidents and my BCAS mentor told me that this position offers a kind of power to perform for a purpose and for the profession. How true these words of wisdom have turned out to be when I look back to the year which has just passed by.
The second experience is more than an observation. For the first time in my BCAS journey, I was fortunate enough to make six contributions to the BCAJ in the year 2019-20 by way of Namaskaar, Book Review, an Article and the column Is it Fair. It is like shooting from 0 to 6 – just as in tennis you win a set at 6-0!
For me it was self-appraisal and not self-praise. I only wish to bring to the notice of the next generation that the power of the BCAS platform always encourages you to perform but you need to be focused and maintain self-discipline.
Now a small note on financials.
I wish to state that this year would be financially challenging for businesses, professionals, employees and even to the Government. Similarly, at BCAS it appears as though there would be our usual fixed costs with lesser revenue. But I am confident that my Office-Bearers, Managing Committee members, Committee Chairmen and the entire Core Group would come up with out-of-the-box thinking and present ideas both to augment our revenues and also to increase membership.
To conclude, I wish to assure all of you that with the support of all the Past Presidents and seniors, along with the Office-Bearers, Managing Committee members, the youth power and the assistance of the BCAS staff, we would perform and deliver our best in these challenging times in the year ahead. Please continue to share your thoughts and guide me in this journey.
As I take up the new position, I would like to release the E-Core Group Diary with 250 Core Group members who are the lifeline of our Society. It is a part of digital transformation that we release it today in E-version. I acknowledge the contribution of our Past President Narayan Pasari who always signs off this diary with his eye for detail. Thank you, Narayanji.
We would print it and send it to members in due course when logistics improves.
I thank you for your patient hearing.
