Professional is one who is expert in his subject, keeps himself/herself up dated with the latest changes, a good team player/leader, have urge for learning and is innovative. In today’s competitive world to sustain the growth in one’s own profession is a big challenge. Take any field there are people with same qualifications and experience and age but placed at different levels. Present day profession demands something special in one’s personal quality and perceptions to move ahead out of the professional crowd to which he/she belongs. This is not relevant only to our accounting profession but relates to every profession existent on earth.
Updation of knowledge is a continuous process and must become daily routine of any professional otherwise one gets obsolete by the passage of time. Real time updation with respect to on-going changes due to various reasons is the essence of the present day profession. Similarly subject specialization is the success mantra in the prevalent professional environment. Subject specialization here means, unlike in past, the present day accountant must focus on a subject of his choice to become expert of the same. As accountant we can select an area of interest to suit ones capability, be it direct taxes, indirect taxes, accounting, auditing, corporate laws, finance, ERP etc. Once selection is made master the subject, go beyond the official syllabus and keep updating on daily basis especially the areas which get influenced by the day to day judgements of courts at different levels. Updating helps us to provide the quality service to our clients/employers. There are instances where we have met professionals who have never bothered to continue education once they acquire a professional degree.
Understand what you learn. Only reading and updating does not guarantee efficiency. While reading a topic it is of immense importance to understand various interpretations of the same topic to improve understanding resulting in its practical use. The best way to understand any topic is to put yourself in the shoes of a teacher and imagine what students will expect from you. Create questions as a student and answer them as teacher. Following this process will help one to master the subject of his/her choice. There is difference in implementing a section of law and finding ways how best the same section of law can be used in a manner most useful to our business. Implementation of law does not require mental exercise but to use the same to one’s advantage definitely involves mental exercise this opens the vision of a professional and takes him/her to higher trajectory and elevates him/her from the professional crowd to which he/she belongs.
In the present day business environment every professional has to be innovative. Innovation is a continuous mental thought process which helps us to create alternative solutions based on our business needs. As an accountant we are expected to control costs, compliance under various laws, completion of audits, arrange finances, funds management, tax planning, MIS etc. Unless we keep ourselves abreast with the developments in different fields desired results cannot be produced which will impede career growth. All the professionals whether in service or practise need to deliver the best possible results. A chartered accountant cannot be expected to know every subject of his field but still is expected to deliver the best results in every field of his profession this can be with the help of different experts/advisors/professionals and or subject specialists. Innovation helps in processing all sorts information one gains from different sources and come out with the best possible solution to beat the competitors. Innovation actually is an idea and the best idea sells the most. Innovative capabilities make one leader and commands respect among peers. Innovation encourages experimentation and in turn experimentation has given us leaders in every field of life.
Finally a good professional needs to be a good team member and a leader. The most important requirement of today’s business is to lead the team from the front and also be a good team member. For the success of any business team formation and clarity of the well-defined goals is of utmost importance. To beat the competition the leader of the team must be able to visualize the unpredicted future and take the decisions most suited to the organization. Here the art of communication plays a vital role in interpretation of ideas into instructions to bring clarity among team members about achievable goals.
All Chartered Accountants cannot be professionals but all professionals can be Chartered Accountants.
DILIP K RAINA –Chartered Accountant:
B.Com; FCA (ICAI); PGDFM; PGDCA; DBM; Cert. IFRS (ICAEW); NCFM Capital Market (Dealers Module); Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Application for Microsoft Dynamics NAV (ERP) & AXAPTA (ERP)
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