Abootstrapper and an accomplished leader in the accounting industry, Kanupriya Rustagi, Director, S.S. Kothari Mehta & Co has more than a decade of illustrious experience in the accounting and auditing space. She is a conscientious professional whose expertise lies in audit and financial reporting advisory along with unique personali-ty traits that benefits her to deal with skeptical minds. Also, her capability to handle clients independently and work with agility helps her to come up with divergent financial solutions. Before her current role in S.S. Kothari Mehta & Co, she was the AVP of Royal Bank of Scotland GFS and successfully lead a division of the financial controllership team of the organization. She constructively worked on transactions, technical accounting advisory, GAAP conversions, financial reporting, and audit support. The influential leader has also conducted IFRS training for many leading private universities and has been a trainer for the KPMG Oman IFRS program. Kanupriya owns an out-of-the-ordinary quality to communicate, identify skills, and build & lead teams toward successful executions despite challenging situations. She believes in pushing the boundaries & going beyond the ordinary and being that `extra' in `extraordinary'. Let's hear it from her.

As a director, what are the challenges that are associated with your role and how do you mitigate them?

In an audit, it is very crucial to maintain independence and objectivity in our minds. So, firstly it has been a challenge to maintain a relationship with the client for effective execution and at the same time, be independent and carry an agile mindset. Secondly, to have out-of-the-box ideas and understand clients' backgrounds & job operations before delivering the best solution to them in the most optimal time. And lastly, to develop a team that supports you through and through to deliver leading clients and professional acumens. We as a team, try to mitigate all such challenging situations, with our technical expertise in the field as well as our personal ability to constructively deal with clients.

What are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey? What has been the driving force behind your success as a professional?

My driving force has always been to look beyond the usual and go way ahead of the scope of work. From the very beginning, I have had a passion for auditing and financial reporting advisory. At the same time, being able to deliver something with maximum client satisfaction within the four corners of legal regulations. This force has always helped me to deliver successful outcomes in all the organizations that I have worked for. In my journey so far, each time that I have surpassed an obstacle, I would consider it to be a milestone. Whether it was about redacting fraud or coming up with major process improvements, I have successfully handled it all. With my ability to think beyond the ordinary, my profiles have always evolved and have been very diversified with outputs that are unique & more wholesome, for both the clients and the organizations.

How has the legal landscape in India evolved in the last decades? How do you keep yourself updated with the new trends in the market?

The introduction of Caro 2020, a new format for the issue of audit reports in case of statutory audits of companies under the Companies Act, 2013 has significant development and requires several disclosures to be made. The corporate governance clauses and disclosures are becoming stringent over the years and I believe there is a significant need for transparency. Corporate Social Responsibility compliances have been introduced and have seen an overhaul completely from the Companies Act, 1956. We are now witnessing constant evolution in the industry with the introduction of new rules. Moreover, India's adaptation of IFRS has matched steps with the international entities and has been able to keep up the converging with the new standards. These are some of the major compliances that have occurred during the last decade and have their major challenges in terms of clients' existing structure. I try to keep up with the changes by keeping a check on the sites of the relevant authorities to get a first-hand view of the new trends.

“With my ability to think beyond the ordinary, my profiles have always evolved & have been very diversified with outputs that are unique &  more wholesome, for both the clients & the organizations”

What would your advice be to young women who also aspire to foray into the accounting industry?

To be successful in this industry one needs to be curious and intellectual. You must be agile in mind and have the willingness to serve the best to the clients. Identify your strengths and look for areas to improve them because over time that is where you will succeed.

Kanupriya Rustagi, Director, S.S. Kothari Mehta & Co

Having a CA degree from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and more than 16 years of experience in accounting & audit, Kanupriya is currently the Director of S.S. Kothari Mehta & Co. She has expertise in transactional & technical accounting, financial reporting & audit support, business restructuring, and other financial verticals of business.