Inauguration of “Professional Interface Forum”

“The Future of Accountancy in the Digital Era and its Impact on Business” 

Professional Interface Forum is set up to enable students to remain in continuous touch with the industry and business executives through interaction at frequent intervals, so that they can imbibe corporate culture and norms followed there and enable them to acquire required skills needed to start their career. The Professional Interface Forum was formally inaugurated on 19^th July 2019 at Xavier’s Hall, St. Joseph’s College, by C. A. Raghu, Director, Indian Overseas Bank. Dr. Melwin Colaço, Register, Mr. Mohammed Umair, Dean of Commerce & Management, Mr. Charles Ambrose, Head of the Department and Ms. Padma Nandanan were the dignitaries present. Mr. Charles welcomed the gathering and Dr. Melwin delivered the inaugural address.

The inaugural session was followed by an expert lecture by C. A. Raghu, Director, Indian Overseas Bank, on the topic “The Future of Accountancy in the Digital Era and its Impact on Business”. Mr. Raghu began the session by providing a basic conceptual framework on emerging concepts like Mobile Vans, Cloud accounting, Analytics, Big Data, FinTech and AI. He then explained the implications of these emerging concepts on business.  He said business owners can use technology to reduce business costs. Basic enterprise software enables a firm to automate back office functions, such as record keeping, accounting and payroll. Mobile tech allows offices and business partners to interact in real time.  Technology is helping businesses grow at a much faster rate than when technology was not available. From automated communication ad ChatBots to automated marketing, technology plays a big role in helping a business grow. They help in boosting sales and generating more revenue.

In the last segment of his lecture Mr. Raghu threw some light on what would be the role commerce graduates in the future when artificial intelligence would become widespread technology. He also gave some valuable tips to students in pursuing chartered accountancy course and also insisted that irrespective of technological advancement career in chartered accountancy would continue to be fruitful. The session was concluded with Q&A session followed by vote of thanks delivered by Mr. Umair.

Professional Interface Forum, 2nd edition

Professional Interface Forum, 2nd edition

Skills set for successful career in corporate world

22nd June 2019

Invited Guest Speaker: Mr Simanapalli – Former Manager SBI and Toastmaster

The ability to speak is a shortcut to distinction, and the person who can speak acceptably is usually given credit for an ability out of all proportion to what he or she really possesses. This was the main message that Mr. Ramlal Simanapalli conveyed through his one and half hour talk to the young and aspiring students from the department of commerce. Mr Simanapalli, renowned Toastmaster from USA, emphasized on the 1st key to success is not to just hard work but to also pronounce and announce it. His theory goes this way “An ounce of work should be followed by a pound of announcing.” A successful CEO is not somebody who knows everything in that field but he is the only person in that company who can efficiently communicate with all his employees to get the job done. Our body language while we communicate matters the most because people will notice when you are animated while you’re talking to them. The flip side being, the failure, is just a stepping stone to success He says the 2nd key to success is Team Work. To be able to bring together a team and drive them towards the same aim will profoundly reflect in the movement of an individual in the Corporate World. Elements like team goal, decisions, problem solving, criticism and creativity will determine the success of the team. Being angry is not a good sign, but being angry to the right person at the right time with right amount will give you maximised result.

He brought into light the immense effect that the Toastmaster program had showed up in his career that helped him move up the corporate ladder. He also added, things that like really matter are not the work knowledge that we need to have, rather its common sense and to be dynamic in nature. When asked about role of humour in the corporate world, his answer was by an example that he had witnessed when he was in America. The incident goes like this, a man wanted to buy half a lemon and for this he goes to the market to find no one would give him as half a lemon and finally after a lot of asking one vendor agrees to ask his master’s permission to give half a lemon. For this he asks the man who came to the shop to wait there and goes inside to ask the master his permission. He opens his request to his master with this statement, “A jackass is waiting outside to buy half a lemon.” And to his surprise the man who he asked to wait outside had also followed him and when he noticed this, he kept his cool, and turned to the person and said, “And this gentleman is waiting to buy the other half.” All of this proves that communication plays a vital role not only in the corporate world but in our daily life too. 

“Facing Interview and Self Branding through CV”

“Guru Gyaan” – Lesson from Corporate Gurus is a guest lecture series for PG Commerce students, in which sessions are conducted not by academic gurus but corporate executives. The inaugural edition of guru gyaan was held on 5^th August, 2019 for the students of PG Commerce and it was inaugurated by Ms. Hema Ayyadura, HR Specialist & Head Projects, PhygitalXP Designs Private Limited, Bangalore.  The topic was “Facing Interview and Self Branding through CV”.  

Ms. Hema highlighted on how resume must be structured and how to give it a professional touch. The major aspects that need to considered at the time of resume building like the requirement (what are you looking for), interests, SWOT analysis about oneself, summary, experience, projects worked on, qualifications, contact and personal details were identified. Regarding resume design and contents, the important points mentioned were professional layout, facts (error free), references and contacts.

She added that covering letter should be impressive. Student should write only true facts in the resume and should not make any false statements. The true statements should be followed with a clarifying explanation. While submitting the resume one should take care that the resume should not be more than one page and should have the photo of the student on the resume. She responded to the questions raised by students.

Further, there was a brief discussion on how to face an interview which included preparation, understanding the culture of the company, communication, punctuality, hard copy of resume and copy of schedule, venue etc. The speaker shared few tips on how students should carry themselves when they go for an interview, like relaxing, listening to the question, eye contact, giving a clear response and also the use magic words thanks, sorry, excuse me etc., when required.

Overall, it was an enriching session especially for students who would like to take up employment in the near future.

Corporate Genesis: Sowing Startup Culture in Students

The Two-Day national seminar cum workshop “Corporate Genesis” was held on the 22^nd and 23^rd of February 2018 organized by the department of commerce.

“Corporate Genesis” focused on equipping budding entrepreneurs with the skills and ideas necessary to start up their own businesses. Session were organized featuring speakers and resource persons prominent in their fields who gave inputs to students on who to pitch for a new business idea, the steps for starting and planning for a new business as well as the legal measures that need to be handled before meeting prospective investors. The seminar was inaugurated by Dr. Balaveera Reddy, former vice chancellor of VTU and Mr. Aga Sultan, Former syndicate member of BU and VTU. They stressed on the importance of bridging the gap between entrepreneurship and education and encouraged the participants to work on nation building.

The first session on day one was conducted by Mr. Amit Punjabi founder of Sankalp Academy a vibrant personality and leader. He spoke on the difficulties of starting a business and the steps that the students have to look into before preparing a business plan; his session was thought provoking and encouraged many of the participants to start working on their own ideas. The second session was conducted by Mr. Christopher Roa and Mr. Prateek Lala, both advocates by profession, specializing in legal formalities and compliance for startups. They spoke legal aspects of business plan and conducted activities to help understand the legal formalities. The last session for the first day was conducted Mr. Nitesh Meti Co-founder of Inspiron and also a life skills coach. His session was focused on how to prepare psychologically approaching venture capitalist. The session was beneficial as the participants were able to understand psychological aspects.

Day two kicked started with a stimulating session by Mr. Shreeyans Jain Co-founder of under 25 club. He session provided insights on implementing a business plan. To cover his points, he discussed many cases. Overall his session was very insightful focusing on strategies for preparing a business plan. The last session for the was conducted by Dr. Faman Ali, founder Docfort meducation, his inputs were focused on convincing investors. His presentation was informative and invigorating. He also made the students to present their business ideas. He also demonstrated students how to convince a prospective investor on investing in a business idea. The two-day seminar ended with a short valedictory with Dr. Christo Selvan, Dean and Prefect of commerce as the chief guest, he highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship for the youth. Corporate Genesis the two-day seminar will be a genesis for the ideas of the young participants and will help them become India’s future entrepreneurs.

Media Coverage

Business espresso: An executive chat show

Business espresso is talk show in which executives from corporate world are invited form an interview talk. The host of the show interview’s and interacts with the guest reflecting on various issues, challenges and trends in the world of business. At the end of the session students are encouraged to pose questions to the guest.

The inaugural episode of Business espresso was held on 12th July, 2019 at St. Joseph’s Auditorium. The event kick started with a traditional lamp lighting ceremony by dignitaries. The dignitaries were, Sri. Tomson Robert – Director of PWC (Financial Services Advisory). Prof. Mohammed Umair – Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Management [FCM]. Prof. Charles Ambrose – Head of the Department. Prof. Padmanandab – PG Coordinator of Commerce. Prof. Amitapriyadarshini – Asst. Professor, FCM & Host of the show.

The episode started with an intro video of the Business Espresso, followed by welcoming of guest by Prof. Mohammed Umair. Mr. Tomson Robert started the interview by talking about his book ‘Alumni of the Year’, he gave the synopsis of the story and also stated what inspired him to write the book. The focal point of the interview was Transition from college campus to corporate world. Speaking in this Mr. Robert stated that students should take up professional courses because most of the Big 4 companies (EY, PWC, KPMG, and Deloitte) gives more attention to candidates who have undertaken a professional course as they provide in-depth knowledge of the subject. He then spoke about the challenges and adversities people face in the corporate world and how to overcome them by never giving up. He also highlighted the relevance of moving with positive thinkers, mediating, changing perception towards challenges and thinking big. He further guided the students to never lose touch with friends and family, as they can be a valuable source of support to kick-start one’s career or pick up where one left off. He then spoke about his experience on working at TCS where he learned team management skills which helped him immensely in the company he is currently working in. Team management skills is a necessity in the corporate world and helps you to interact with your team efficiently, he stated.

The host Ms. Amita Concluded the session with Q&A session, many students raised questions on various issues like, [1] Challenges that women face in the corporate world. [2] Career in finance and pursuing post-graduation. [3] Some questions were focused on personal challenges that the guest encountered while starting his career. To sum-up, the interaction was an eye opener for many students as the talk provided key insights on career planning and corporate culture. The session concluded with vote of thanks, followed by national anthem.