'Tax professionals need to move away from compliance to advisory'

Kolkata: With emerging tax laws and regulatory regimes posing a threat to professionals, P R Ramesh, chairman of Deloiite India, advised one and all to embrace technology. "We need to look ahead as history is history; it cannot become the future. We need to look ahead and the single most disruption is in the form of technology as its pace has been so dramatic,"

Ramesh said in his keynote address to mark the 57th foundation day and annual conference of ACAE Chartered Accountants' study circle — EIRC in Kolkata.

Ramesh said tax professionals need to move away from compliance to advisory in order to acclimatize themselves with the changing tax laws. He put up the anecdote of a one-time favourite car ambassador that has lost its popularity amidst new-age sedans and SUVs with latest technology.

"There was a time when you needed thousands of para legals for scanning voluminous documents but now a single computer is doing this. Hence if we do not embrace technology, a day will come when technology will drive professionals out of business," Ramesh explained.

Stressing on the need for the younger generation in chartered accountancy to ponder upon what is the road ahead for them, Ramesh offered four suggestions that should be followed by professionals.

"Think like an immigrant, think like an artisan, always be in production mode and have the passion, curiosity, emotions and be a good ethical human being to become a successful professional," he said.

According to him, the passion quotient (PQ), curiosity quotient (CQ), emotional quotient (EQ) and human quotient (HQ) should be greater than the IQ level.

"This is the formula for becoming a successful professional chartered accountant. A professional should think of collective success," he added.