It is PwC that has made and shaped me
“Straight talking and direct”, “can be abrasive”, “is very sure about what she wants” – if you know/knew me, I’m sure that’s how you’d describe me.
I’ve never really worked anywhere else. As a lifer at the firm, I did my Articleship from 1985-1988 during which I also got married. After I qualified, I continued with the firm till1991. Quit the firm when I was going to have a baby despite my partners trying to convince me to stay on but I knew that I would always have a place to come back to so rejoined the firm in 1994. In essence, I believe even back then we practiced diversity without having any formal written policies.
One of my most cherished moments was when I joined back post my maternity break as a Senior Assistant Manager. I had to go through the interview process and was taken through the terms and conditions and we agreed that I would join on 1 June. I remember going in to meet Thomas Mathew in his cabin to tell him I’m ready to begin. He smiled and told me that during the time I wasn’t there, they had hired someone else at my designation who’d actually negotiated at a higher salary while I had negotiated at a lower salary. So, they would be bumping me up to the same salary as well. I never imagined that on the day I joined back, I’d be drawing a salary that was more than what had been agreed upon. We hear stories of pay parity, equality in the workplace, women not being treated equal to men, etc. daily today and for me this story will always stand out in my memory because of how fairly I was treated. It truly showed the mettle of my partners and mentors.
I made Partner in 1997. Over the next few years, I was handing several large listed and g one of the highest-risk clients of the firm. Around 2007, we decided as a family that we wanted to move to Pune, but this move was more on paper, as I continued to shuffle between Mumbai and Pune each week as most of my clients were based in Mumbai.
In 2009, after Satyam happened, I moved back to Mumbai and took over as Head of Audit for three years, next as Head of Risk and Quality for another three years and then took on the Global Diversity Leader role until I took early retirement in June 2019.
A high point in my career would be handling one of the largest FMCGs in India as a young Partner - the satisfaction was immense because of the opportunity to be part of something where the Audit Committee Chair was Mr. Deepak Parekh and others was huge. But a truly career defining apex would be three years after Satyam, when we went to Washington to make the presentation before the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in terms of the compliance of the order that the PCAOB and the SEC had directed at us. When we told them that we had complied with everything, they issued us a letter which I still have. It was really something because I know how hard everyone had worked to get us here.
As I grew in the firm, I had four bankable allies/mentors - two were my managers at one point in time and grew to become Partners while two were already Partners. They were also my friends and people whom I knew I could call 24/7.
My learnings from each were unique in itself – from Kersi Vachha, I learnt that you can be friends with the client and yet be a tough auditor. From Thomas Mathew, I learnt professionalism, how to make sure you did the right thing from a client perspective and to look at all your alternatives before saying ‘No’. From Vasant Gujarati, I learnt the art of negotiation as he taught me that being paid for good work is important. From Sanjay Hegde, I learnt that talking straight and talking directly was the right thing to do and if you do the right thing, you don’t have to worry about losing sleep. I miss him and cannot believe that he is no longer with us.
I truly believe that I was lucky to make so many friends in my journey in the firm – people who I still talk to regularly as they are a part of my life even now. You can take a person out of PwC, but you can never take PwC out of a person. Wherever I am, whatever I am, irrespective of whatever experiences I’ve had, I believe I am what I am because of my nearly 33 years in the firm. I cannot forget that it is PwC that has made and shaped me.
