CMS Business School, Jain (Deemed-to-be University) launched the second season of the interactive series Coffee par Charcha on January 18, 2021. This unique forum provides aspiring managers an opportunity to interact with industry stalwarts and be future-ready.

Hosted via virtual mode, the first session was conducted by Ms. Deepti Gupta - Vice President- Global Finance Assurance, HSBC was the guest for the session. Ms.Gupta is a Chartered Accountant (CA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Certified General Management Accountant (CGMA) with experience of over 16 years in Internal Controls; Audits, Risk Assessment & Management, Process Improvements; Reengineering, Corporate Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) across diverse industry segments such as Banking, Foods & Beverages, FMCG, Retail, IT/ITES, KPO/BPO, Automotive, Pharma, etc. She has served in the capacity of consultant as well as a subject-matter expert, across a wide range of processes. Having worked in places like PwC, Evalueserve, EXL, Bharti Group, PepsiCo, and currently with HSBC in leadership roles. She is also a mentor to IIT women Ph.D. scholars, blind students from Blind Relief Association of India (BRAD), and to several other youngsters within and outside her organization.

Here are some excerpts from the session:

Student Question: What are the factors that should be considered by MBA students while choosing a career in the finance domain – especially since there are so many options in different domains of finance?

Deepti: The first that should be considered is where does your interest lie? If you are just being a part of the process because of herd mentality and say that I should do this because everyone is doing it, that is not going to help you. Follow your heart and follow your interest and where you think you are capable. 

Student Question: Risk Management and Internal Control has been an integral part of your profile. Can you advise us on the skills that we should develop to work in that domain? 

Deepti: Risk management as a domain has many sub-domains (e.g. Insurance sector has a separate set of certifications). Thus certificates are to be sought for different domains differently. However, the more important thing for building a career in Risk Management is to have a ‘risk bent of mind’ where you can identify real and potential risks. This skill is more important to succeed in this domain than mere certifications’

Major takeaways from the Coffee Par Charcha:

The 90-minute discussion was packed with takeaways – ranging from adapting to the corporate culture to the emerging opportunities in the Finance Area. Some of the key takeaways from the session:

• Be prepared with your subject matter, so that you can showcase yourself whenever the opportunity arises (which may come when you are least expecting it)
• Choose your career based on what interests you, and not based on what will give you a higher starting package. 
• Analyze your strengths to see where you are capable. Do not follow the herd mentality in the choice of career. 
• The area of finance is undergoing lots of exciting changes. Ensure that you remain well informed on the trends and update your skill sets to match the emerging domains. 

The online session was an instant hit with the students as they actively participated and engaged in the conversation with the speaker. 

Keep watching this space for more interesting webinars from the Coffee Pe Charcha series.