CIMA India October 2012 enewsletter

Keeping a tab on the world of business Oct-Nov 2012

Vol IV

Message from

Murali Sundaram

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Message from Murali ......................1

Every student and member of CIMA in India is in some way spreading the good word about CIMA, among employers and other stakeholders.

Appreciation About 'Pulse' .........2 Recap

• Round Table...........................................3 • CEO Visits Infosys Campus ................3 • Panel Discussion...................................4 • Corporate Governance Seminar........5 • Help Them For A Better Tomorrow .............................5 • Induction Session Gateway Route Students.....................................6 • Induction Session Corporate and Academics .............................................6 • PER Workshop.......................................6

Up Next

• Revision Lectures..................................7 • Referral Campaign................................7 • October Offer .......................................7

Member Speak

• Vinesh Singh..........................................8

Latest Vacancies on CIMA MYJOBS..................................10 Important Dates .............................10

Dear CIMA students and members, Welcome to the fourth edition of CIMA Pulse. It is always a great pleasure engaging with the CIMA community.

The CIMA Employer Relations team constantly engages with organisations and helps their businesses succeed by building relevant skills and competencies to drive long term sustainable business growth.

CIMA partners with organisations that encourage their employees to take up the qualification by financing the exam fees, providing study leave, mentoring etc. Some of CIMA's Training Partners in India are Genpact, KPMG, Ford, Accenture, Shell, Scope International, Oracle and Tesco, among others.

We are pleased to announce our two recent partnerships in India with HP Global Business Services and Infosys BPO Limited. The HP GBS partnership will cover 12 global shared service locations and over 18000 employees.

HP GBS has purchased the e-learning content for all exam modules i.e. cimastudy.com from CIMA and is giving free and unlimited access to all its employees.

Infosys BPO is encouraging all its employees, working for Finance & Accounting (F&A) vertical, to take up the CIMA Qualification to sharpen their F&A domain skills. Infosys BPO plans to support financing the cost of the

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qualification by reimbursing the qualification fees.

We are also pleased to note that an increasing number of organisations like St. Gobain, International SOS, Prudential Process Management Services and Pepsico are posting their job requirements on CIMA My Jobs.

While all of the above are good positive strides, we think that the journey has just begun. We also believe that the CIMA Employer Relations team is not just the 4 people in India, it is in fact 3800 people strong. Every student and member of CIMA in India is in some way spreading the good word about CIMA, among employers and other stakeholders. Some of you have helped us with introductions into your organisations, some with job posts on CIMA My Jobs while some of you have helped by being 'Brand Ambassadors' and advocates to groups of prospects or students. A Big Thank You from us for all your efforts.

For those of you who would like to add strength to our journey, please feel free to get in touch with me directly or my team or the Student and Member Team, led by Reena.

We wish you all the luck for your future!

Regards, Murali Sundaram National Head - Corporate Relations, CIMA India

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Keeping a tab on the world of business

About Appreciation About 'Pulse' Some of the comments shared by our students and members

I am very pleased to read the Pulse newsletter of CIMA, India.

I am happy to see that efforts are being made to unite the Management Accounting profession and inculcate a sense of transparency, accountability and a sense of ethics and responsibility towards the society. I am based in New Delhi, but keep travelling for business in India and Abroad. I shall be happy to participate in your activities in India.

With Best wishes, Swarn K. Khosla, CGMA Chairman & Managing Director, NEO SECURITIES LIMITED, Member, National Stock Exchange of India E. Mail: esskaykay@hotmail.com

This Magazine is very insightful about regional happenings.

Kudos to CIMA India!

Regards, Santhosh E. Mail: v.santhoshca@gmail.com Hello Fellow CIMA members! Thanks for your kind messages.

Keep up the good work. CIMA qualification is highly prized.

Never forget that.

With kind regards.

Prof Farokh Sagar E. Mail: fsagar@gmail.com

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recap

Keeping a tab on the world of business

Round Table: Developing The Finance Talent Pipeline For India's Service Centres CIMA organised a round table discussion on CIMA's upcoming report on the above subject. The objective of the discussion was to share ideas and thoughts on certain areas identified by the report such as: 1. What role will shared-service centres and outsourcing play in the future for finance to meet the needs of the organisation?

2. What are the critical skills and competencies required from finance people to meet these needs?

3. Should finance professionals focus more on the higher value areas providing information and insight for decision support?

such as information management? If so, what is the likely impact on developing finance talent?

5. What is the likely impact on the shifts of finance talent traffic globally? What are the cultural considerations that organisations need to consider?

The Round Table was moderated by Charles Tilley, CEO CIMA. The round table saw participation from heads of F & A practise of shared services and BPMs. Organisations represented were Infosys BPO • Siemens Information Processing Services Pvt Ltd. • Ford Business Service Centre Pvt Ltd • Scope International Pvt Ltd • Scope International Pvt Ltd • Tata Consultancy Services • Accenture • Oracle India Pvt Ltd

4. Is there an expectation that outsourcing or centres of excellence will increasingly provide higher-end capabilities

CIMA CEO Visits Infosys Campus, Bengaluru CIMA CEO, Charles Tilley, paid a visit to the Infosys campus at Bengaluru, during his recent visit to India.

He recorded an interview with the CFO of Infosys BPO, Abraham Mathew. He also had a meeting with the CEO of Infosys BPO, D Swaminathan. Charles was astounded by the growth that Infosys has achieved during such a short span of its existence. After his visit, he threw a challenge to the team in India to grow CIMA at the same pace and level as Infosys!

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recap

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Panel Discussion with People Matters Magazine The talent gap: Connecting human capital to the growth agenda, Mumbai

CIMA, along with People Matters, organised a panel discussion on CIMA's flagship report 'The talent gap: Connecting human capital to the growth agenda'. The objective of the discussion was to exchange ideas and best practices as well as debate certain issues thrown up by the survey, such as: • Are companies today, vigilant and well equipped to cater to their talent and skilling demands efficiently?

• How do companies approach talent analytics today to assess the impact of people management on their balance sheets?

• What are the dynamics of the talent requirement planning?

What role do the different stakeholders of an organisation play in the process of building the talent pool in these changing environs of the economy?

Charles Tilley speaking at the People Matters CIMA Discussion

The panel was chaired by Charles Tilley (CEO, CIMA), Judhajit Das (Chief Human Resources, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited), Mohan M Madiman (Vice-President Corporate HR, Larsen & Toubro Limited), Rajendra Ghag (Executive Vice President Human Resources, HDFC Standard Life Insurance) and Amit Das (Senior Vice President - Group HR, RPG Enterprises).

The discussion was moderated by Ester Martinez, Managing Director of People Matters.

Audience at the Skills & Talent Discussion

The event, which was held on 27th September in Mumbai, was attended by the CEOs & Business Heads, HR Heads and Senior HR Professionals.

L-R : Rajendra Ghag, Mohan M Madiman, Charles Tilley, Judhajit Das, Ester Martinez, Amit Das

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recap Times Corporate Dossier Corporate Governance Seminar

L-R : Subodh Bhargava, Anjali Bansal, Kalpana Morparia, Lalita Gupte and Charles Tilley

Charles Tilley speaking

CIMA, along with Corporate Dossier, organised the Corporate Governance Seminar 2012 on 28 September in Mumbai. The seminar was a collaborative effort by Corporate Dossier, knowledge partner, Spencer Stuart, and industry constituents, including management accountants and law firms. The full-day seminar focused on the dynamic nature of corporate governance and the newly found benefits that the organisations are deriving from it by using it as a strategic tool. The discussion revolved around the problems in corporate governance in India vis-a-vis US and UK, and how the governance framework in the country is at a crossroads today, as it's adopting learning from other countries keeping India-specific issues as a backdrop.

Addressed by independent directors and industry experts, this forum, with a focus on the evolution of corporate governance and

L-R : Kalpana Morparia, Subodh Bhargava, Anjali Bansal, Charles Tilley and Lalita Gupte

the way forward, rides on the theme of 'Governance: Where is the true North?'

Key topics: • • • •

Corporate Governance Principles on International Boards Advisory Boards: Strategy in addition to Governance Private Equity and its impact on Corporate Governance The Role of Shareholder Activism in Corporate Governance

Charles Tilley, CEO, CIMA was a speaker in the first panel Corporate Governance Principles on International Boards along with Lalita Gupte, Chairperson, ICICI Venture Funds; Kalpana Morparia, CEO India, JP Morgan and Subobh Bhargava, Chairman, TATA Communications.

Help Them For A Better Tomorrow In an effort to contribute to a great cause, a laptop upgrade project in our Mumbai office was turned into an opportunity to give back to society by donating the money generated by selling old laptops to staff to a charity called 'AASARA'.

'AASARA' is an organisation, which provides shelter, food, education, medical assistance and nurturing for street children.

A heartfelt thank you to all of our India staffs for your kind gesture and for displaying the true CIMA spirit in reaching out and helping others to succeed. We hope that it will help to improve and enrich these children's lives and develop their inherent talent and re-integrate them to society as well rounded and outstanding individuals.

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recap Induction Session Gateway Route Students An online exam techniques session was held to help students at Gateway Route to prepare for their gateway entry exam and understand what the examiners are looking for, on October 2, 2012. The event, addressed by Clancy Peres, ACMA CGMA, covered the following topics: •

How to consult the syllabus?

•

How to identify and develop examinable skills?

•

How to organise your studies smartly?

•

What study resources may help you?

•

How to plan the answer and write for full potential marks?

•

How to manage time in the exam?

Keeping a tab on the world of business

Induction Session Corporate and Academics CIMA India is currently doing a huge amount of work around its induction process, so that students starting out on the “journey” can be sure that they head out in the right direction. We understand that to prepare for the professional qualifications a different approach is required than preparing for the exams. As a part of the induction process, we covered corporate universities and institutes across India. Corporates like Scope, Ford and Tesco etc. and Academic institutes like Manipal University, Shadwell's Institute of Business & Finance, Amplify Mind ware and Poddar International College etc. were covered. We have received an overwhelming response from students and we will highly appreciate your feedback and suggestions.

Clancy Peiris, ACMA, CGMA, Attorney at Law, Study Support and Learning Manager at CIMA conducted this session.

PER Workshop for Exams Complete students Thank You to all who were able to attend the online Practical Experience Requirements (PER) workshop and for all the positive feedback. The web-conference based workshop was conducted by Pratik Patel, ACMA, CGMA on Saturday October 6, 2012. We covered all the key steps of how to file your PER, including the final step to acquiring the ACMA, CGMA Designation. Over 55 Exams Complete students logged into the conference. For those who missed this workshop, please log into the next workshop in December or contact Reena Dsilva or Pratik at the CIMA India office for a personal counselling.

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Up

ne t Revision Lectures As a continuation to our efforts to support the students, we would be conducting free Revision Sessions for the November 2012 Exam diet. We plan to hold these workshop in the form of Web Ex. The details as mentioned below. The details are also available on the CIMA India Face book page.

28 October Morning

Afternoon

E1

P2

3 November

4 November

Morning

Afternoon

Evening

E2

P1

F1

Morning

Afternoon

Evening

T4

E3

F2

Please send in your confirmations to india@cimaglobal.com

Referral Campaign We are pleased to initiate the Referral Campaign once again this year.

visit https://secure.cimaglobal.com/Our-locations/India1/Refera-student-2012/ and complete the form by 31 December 2012.

If you have a friend or colleague who can benefit from the CIMA qualification, all you need to do is please

As a token of appreciation, you stand to receive exciting gifts.

October Offer Special Offer: Register by 31 December 2012 and save ÂŁ100 (approx. Rs.8500/-*). Also, 5 lucky new registrations stand to win full CIMA qualification scholarships.** (Promotion code: OctIND2012)

To know about the entire offer and the terms and conditions, please refer to http://www.cimaglobal.com/Ourlocations/India1/How-would-YOU-spend-GBP70/

* 1 GBP = INR 85. Subject to currency rate fluctuations. ** Conditions apply

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Keeping a tab on the world of business

Member Speak Leaders of tomorrow - what attributes must they have to succeed? innovation and freshness. In most cases thinking out-of-the-box helps identify the vital differentiators such as product

Vice President Reliance Retail Limited (Supply Chain Management, Sourcing, IT & Training for footwear division).

Drawing on my working experience of over 25 years in different functional areas, I will briefly attempt to list out few emerging attributes that the leaders of tomorrow must possess to succeed at work.

The corporate world has changed a lot in the last few years and has become more competitive. Today, in our everyday life, we use products and technologies, which did not exist a few years ago and this is true across industries - retail, hospitality, entertainment, education, healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing, etc.

The life cycle of the large majority of the products and services are much shorter than ever before and therefore, the window for opportunity is also correspondingly shorter. While most professionals are technically sound and up-to-date on the knowledge front, the successful ones are the ones who are ready to tread new paths and challenge the status quo. By constantly challenging the status quo, teams grow stronger by exploring newer ways to succeed and in the process, raise the standards. In progressive organisations, challenging the status quo is not equated with disobedience or disloyalty. In fact, it is encouraged as it breeds the spirit of

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Vinesh Singh

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While most professionals are technically sound and up-to-date on the knowledge front, the successful ones are the ones who are ready to tread new paths and challenge the status quo.

features, level of customer service, response-time or simply price in this hugely competitive world and helps drive customer-centricity across the organisation, which is vital to meet the constantly growing level of customer expectations.

Besides innovation and staying up-to-date, the next big lesson is that of adaptability.

The world is indeed becoming smaller, largely because of affordable technology resulting in a shift in people's thinking.

Whilst the work and personal lives are constantly changing and being challenged, this phenomenon is also bringing about newer business opportunities. In every single industry, without exception, newer and better companies have emerged and displaced the older ones. Besides innovation and staying up-to-date, the next big lesson is that of adaptability.

Adaptability, or rather lack of it, is the single major reason why leading organisations, across the world, were unable to maintain their leading positions and were confined to history. In majority of

the cases, past legacies and cultures have weighed heavy and proven to be the major drag in the fight posed by the younger and nimbler organisations. The cycle of newer, better and more affordable technology is an on-going process and the secret of success is being open minded and flexible at all times.

However, despite realising that the world is changing faster than ever before, business leaders continue to disproportionately spend high amount of time analysing the past and present in comparison to the future. This is one major issue, which deserves attention.

Few years back, in a large MNC that I very proudly worked for, the Sale-Stock MIS Report was made available weekly to select senior managers. Computers were few and those who used Lotus (pre-Windows era) were indeed considered quite evolved and modern. In comparison, today these reports are available on hourly basis to managers at all levels for individual retail stores located across the country carrying far more variety of active SKUs in comparison to earlier times. However, even though this is something most of us had not envisaged a few years back, it is today an affordable reality and all thanks to modern technology. Having said all this, in many ways, this information overload is sometimes a nuisance and in quite a few cases it is a bane rather than a boon. So, besides accepting changes, regular update of professional competence is imperative.

Continuous skill development through regular training has emerged as a key factor for success as besides motivating employees it also helps offer superior services to the customers. In this respect, the concept of the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) courses offered by

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Member Speak CIMA is quite unique and helps students and members network, whilst constantly upgrading their skill sets and knowledge.

In the fast changing world, having the ability to respond quickly or agile is definitely a key attribute of success. Once the direction is set, it is important to move quickly as speed matters. Typically, winning teams are the ones, which are the firsts to identify emerging trends and generally have a high speed of execution else they run the risk of being beaten by their competitors. In a nutshell, ability coupled with agility makes a winning combination.

Professional competence, passion, discipline, hard work and moral courage are all essential virtues and need to be present in the right mix for success. Ethics is the new buzzword and my personal belief is that it is very important in all walks of life personal and professional. Ethics is something which cannot be learned as it a function of the life-long value system and experiences. Organisations at all times must use every opportunity to reinforce good values amongst its members and should adopt an unambiguous stance on this important subject giving cognisance to the fact that true test of ethics and integrity is when others are not watching and the individual has the option to act otherwise. Majority of the managers who cross the ethical line invariably take refuge by highlighting somewhat ambiguous value system.

I studied CIMA in early 1990s and it was quite refreshing to study a syllabus, which had a perfect blend of different business subjects. This played a big role in my professional career as I soon realised that there aren't any definite boundaries between functions and they are all

interlinked to form a Company. I genuinely reached out for opportunities to work in different functional areas to sharpen my theoretical knowledge and ended up working in different divisions, viz. manufacturing, sourcing, brand management, marketing, supply chain and sales and the CIMA qualification gave me an all-round confidence to excel in my multifarious roles.

a case in point. In comparison to other alternate courses, CIMA scores high because of its practical syllabus and a good mix of subjects coupled with the casestudy method of assessment at the strategic level. CIMA is a business degree with the future in mind and would definitely help professionals evolve into successful leaders.

CIMA is a comprehensive and balanced course, which helps develop all-round skills.

The business world has changed enormously, since I started working few decades ago. However, the basic principles continued to stay the same and firmly rooted. Individual department are just virtual boundaries, which continues to exist and prevent practicing managers from delivering their best. I strongly encourage young and middle level managers to get different work experiences across the company, as it would help them evolve into better leaders as they progress in their professional life. This would encourage and help managers rise above their departmental thinking and adopt a holistic or “Skyview� approach to finding solutions. This is important to eradicate myopic thinking and help build high performance teams.

CIMA is a comprehensive and balanced course, which helps develop all round skills.

It is indeed a complete business course, which remains practical and contemporary through regular update of syllabus by a team of professionals and academicians who take into account the emerging global trends. The recent association with AICPA is

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Latest Vacancies on

CIMA MYJOBS Employer : FTMS Global Academy (India) Private Limited Position : Faculty Location : Chennai Sector : Education and training http://myjobs.cimaglobal.com/apply/ 451574/faculty/

Employer Position Location Sector

: : : :

International SOS Accounts Assistant New Delhi Healthcare/NHS http://myjobs.cimaglobal.com/apply/ 451573/accounts-assistant/

APPLY

APPLY

For more vacancies, log on to http://myjobs.cimaglobal.com

Important Dates Time Table for November Professional Exam 20 November

21 November

22 November

E1

P1

F1

E2

P2

F2

E3

P3

F3

Gateway Exam

T4 part B (paper or PC)

CIMA Applause September 2012 “Extra� Exam diet Paper Name

First name

Last name

Mark

Country Rank

Strategic Level Paper E3 Enterprise Strategy

Nidhi

Agrawal

64

1

E3 Enterprise Strategy

Deepak

Tharanee

63

2

E3 Enterprise Strategy

Ravinder

Jain

63

2

E3 Enterprise Strategy

Srikanth

Lanka

63

2

F3 Financial Strategy

Ravindra

Ranjan

64

1

F3 Financial Strategy

Shrenik

Shah

61

2

P3 Performance Strategy

Sanjib

Das

54

1

P3 Performance Strategy

Antony

Kumar

52

2

P3 Performance Strategy

Rupa

Rao

52

2

P3 Performance Strategy

Sivaraman

Subramanian

52

2

Test for Professional Competence T4 Part B Case Study T4 Part B Case Study Examination

Gouthem

M

35 credits

1

T4 Part B Case Study Examination

Lakshmi

Krishnan

34 credits

2

10